Tuesday, June 3, 2008

U-Haulin'

Five years ago, after Patrick and I had spent our honeymoon driving from Massachusetts to Colorado, we made a solemn promise NEVER to rent a U-Haul again. So it was with great trepidation that I wedged myself into the middle seat of our 14-footer to shelp our "not-quite-suitable-for-Costa Rica" STUFF from Washington back up to Massachusetts. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Lucas kept the screaming to a minumum; gas in New Jersey is still below 4 bucks a gallon, and we only had to drive through two hours of torrential downpours. But still, if anyone can explain to my why the floors of the trucks always seem to reach blistering heights, I'd be really interested to learn.

We are now completely unencombered. Fourteen hundred pounds of STUFF has been shipped to Costa Rica (The books, rainy-day board games, and never-used power tools weighed about three times more than we expected them to...), there are two pallets of furniture and three shelves worth of photo albums and Christmas ornaments stored at my parents house, and we are now happily living out of four suitcases. It's quite a liberating feeling to be homeless, car-less, job-less, and STUFF-less. For those of you who have never tried it before, it's worth doing at least once. Of course, this is about our third time around, so beware, it might be addictive.

On our way to my parents, the children's game "My Grandmother's Trunk" kept running through my head. I drove to Westborough, and in my U-Haul I packed: My cat's Sparky's ashes to bury in the backyard; the top of the pressure cooker that missed the boat to Central America; our cell phone contract which can't be cancelled for another three weeks, two days and seventeen hours; and my wedding dress, which still hasn't made it to the cleaners...

Our adventure has begun, and so far it's inspired a catchy tune: "We're U-Haulin' and re-fallin' in love with you".

(Note: For more on STUFF, refer to George Carlin).