The End (Beginning) is Nigh

Nick Woodland – 6/11/23

These last two weeks have been…helter-skelter, that’s the word (or words). It seems there are sixteen things to do at any given moment. I have discovered newfound peace in painting rocks, seriously. Who knew?

It’s rained every day since the end of school on May 26th. Every day. It is storming out now. Thunder rumbling in the background has become a sort of refrain. You used to be able to say, ‘Planning something? Better do it early.’ That doesn’t seem to abide any more. It just clouds up and storms before you can get a head start. We got chased off by a storm at Clement Park trying to see a band (Cindy and the Protractors for any of you fans of Jeffco educator musicians). The storm finally caught us as we reached the car and it was like Jurassic Park out there. Flashes so bright it was pure daylight for a nano second.

Today, Ava and I took the U-haul we rented to our storage space to pack the final pieces of furniture and boxes. Guess what it did when we got there? Rained. Stormed. Ava and I sheltered in the truck or the small space left in our unit as lightning ravaged the ridge above Meyer Park only a couple miles away across the highway.

I was soaked when we were done. But Hey! everything fit in the storage unit. I had ghastly images of a bunch of stuff left in the truck and no space left in the unit. I mean we had a third of the space left in a 10′ X 15′ storage unit and a 15′ U-Haul that was full, and yet, somehow, someway…the Gods of Packing Tape looked down fondly on us, I guess.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we are done. Here’s what’s left:

1: Clothes to sort and pack (one pile to bring, another to store – did I mention there is a tiny bit of space left in the storage unit)

2: Dump run

3: Basketball Hoop to a friend’s house

4: Meeting with insurance agents

5: Post office run

6: Food donation to local resource house

7: Pack the camper (can’t forget that)

8: Move the camper up to the road before it gets too heavy and so I can turn on the fridge on the level (you’ve seen how unlevel my driveway is)

9: Clean the house

There’s probably another list with 10 more things on it but as I said, the beginning approaches as the end nears…something like that.