The weekend following Labor Day, it was going the be the first coolish weekend in months - good timing. My friend Jeff called and said the news is that "the house finally sold - I have to be out by Monday the 10th." Of course I offered to be of any assistance I could, "Do you need some help in moving?" I felt good about being able to actually act as a friend, and I felt good that he answered with resignation, "yeah - the would be appreciated."
Jeff's divorce had been final for several months, and part of the settlement was that he had to stay and repaint and clean the place and keep it ready for the occasional showings earning the skinny-end of the split of the sales proceeds. We maintain friendship with both sides of the shattered couple, but this was a time that Jeff truly needed some help. Sue, though not included on the original "helper list", quickly added herself once I told her the circumstance of how I was going to spend the coming weekend. The ex-wife just happened to call Sue on Friday night and worked into the conversation a question as to whether she was going to be helping Jeff the next day? For those keeping score - the answer was, "why, yes."
We set about the tasks Jeff directed us toward, mainly boxing up piles of household stuff to be delivered to the Salvation Army and boxing up lots of what remained in the kitchen cabinets for stowing in the U-Stor-It across town. Two other work friends were man-handling the appliances and trucking them to storage while we worked on our corner of the glum circumstance. James, the youngest of the 3 kids, was the only one of the siblings left in town, and he showed up dutifully later in the morning and helped sort through the flotsam of the shattered family without much enthusiasm. James had helped move his mother to her apartment. James had helped move his older brother to his new place once he landed a job 80 miles out of Dallas. James had moved himself into an apartment he found on Craig's List once his bedroom was on the market. Now James showed up to clean out the last of those familiar items of home, towels of a certain color, drinking glasses that were once of special significance, plates & bowls from mealtimes together. James seemed to be tired of shoveling family members and family memories to far flung disparate localities.
In the end, the house was basically clean. We had know the family before the 3 kids were born, and though Sue's job that day was to sort, box, sweep and discard, it was not with "ruthless efficiency" as there was obviously a lot of sentiment going out to the growing pile on the curb where it would wait for the scavengers to pick through old toys, lamps and odd furniture until Wednesday morning when the Garland City trucks with "Solid Waste Department" lettered on their doors would scoop up the wreckage of what was once a family and haul those mementos - now officially "trash" - off as landfill. Among the curbside memories was a High School graduation gown, some photos and works of children's art. If the all the hauling were not so physically exhausting, the emotional toll could really hit home.
Just me and Jeff on Sunday morning for the last odds and ends. Mostly clothing and bottles of liquor that we moved to the travel trailer that Jeff had parked at the Holiday Village Travel Park, Jeff's new home on Highway 78, just across the road from the Pet Cemetery. I asked Jeff if it was good that the house sale had now closed? He looked for a silver lining; I can save some money without a mortgage, rent for the trailer space and power hook-up is pretty cheap - but I will miss living in a house.
Since the Facebook appeal brought no takers, Jeff's final duty on Monday morning was to gather up the cats and drop them off at the city animal shelter before work.
I was good to understand that being there was being a friend.
Let's move on out.
Let's move on up.
Jeff's divorce had been final for several months, and part of the settlement was that he had to stay and repaint and clean the place and keep it ready for the occasional showings earning the skinny-end of the split of the sales proceeds. We maintain friendship with both sides of the shattered couple, but this was a time that Jeff truly needed some help. Sue, though not included on the original "helper list", quickly added herself once I told her the circumstance of how I was going to spend the coming weekend. The ex-wife just happened to call Sue on Friday night and worked into the conversation a question as to whether she was going to be helping Jeff the next day? For those keeping score - the answer was, "why, yes."
We set about the tasks Jeff directed us toward, mainly boxing up piles of household stuff to be delivered to the Salvation Army and boxing up lots of what remained in the kitchen cabinets for stowing in the U-Stor-It across town. Two other work friends were man-handling the appliances and trucking them to storage while we worked on our corner of the glum circumstance. James, the youngest of the 3 kids, was the only one of the siblings left in town, and he showed up dutifully later in the morning and helped sort through the flotsam of the shattered family without much enthusiasm. James had helped move his mother to her apartment. James had helped move his older brother to his new place once he landed a job 80 miles out of Dallas. James had moved himself into an apartment he found on Craig's List once his bedroom was on the market. Now James showed up to clean out the last of those familiar items of home, towels of a certain color, drinking glasses that were once of special significance, plates & bowls from mealtimes together. James seemed to be tired of shoveling family members and family memories to far flung disparate localities.
In the end, the house was basically clean. We had know the family before the 3 kids were born, and though Sue's job that day was to sort, box, sweep and discard, it was not with "ruthless efficiency" as there was obviously a lot of sentiment going out to the growing pile on the curb where it would wait for the scavengers to pick through old toys, lamps and odd furniture until Wednesday morning when the Garland City trucks with "Solid Waste Department" lettered on their doors would scoop up the wreckage of what was once a family and haul those mementos - now officially "trash" - off as landfill. Among the curbside memories was a High School graduation gown, some photos and works of children's art. If the all the hauling were not so physically exhausting, the emotional toll could really hit home.
Just me and Jeff on Sunday morning for the last odds and ends. Mostly clothing and bottles of liquor that we moved to the travel trailer that Jeff had parked at the Holiday Village Travel Park, Jeff's new home on Highway 78, just across the road from the Pet Cemetery. I asked Jeff if it was good that the house sale had now closed? He looked for a silver lining; I can save some money without a mortgage, rent for the trailer space and power hook-up is pretty cheap - but I will miss living in a house.
Since the Facebook appeal brought no takers, Jeff's final duty on Monday morning was to gather up the cats and drop them off at the city animal shelter before work.
I was good to understand that being there was being a friend.
Let's move on out.
Let's move on up.
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