SOLSC 2022 #19 - Moving right along

 

It is March 2022 and time for the

 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge  

Every single day, for all thirty-one days of March,

writers will share stories.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

I think the tell for me was the sloppy paint splashed along the wood trim and the tile floor; this old house/apartment was not lovingly or respectfully maintained. No one really CARED. I hoped I was wrong; just a visual cue that jumped out at me as I squeezed around the varied moving boxes to use the bathroom.

It was a bitter cold day in late January when my youngest son (Bryce) moved to his new apartment. The five of us made it happen - Tony and I, our three sons.  We know the drill all too well: rent a truck, load it up, shuffle groan up and down stairs, curse the furniture, work up a sweat, hope no one moves again anytime soon, be thankful there is no sleep sofa. It was hard work, and I am so thankful that my three sons are strong and able, doing almost every bit of the heavy lifting and bending, leaving me to packing and unpacking individual boxes. 

That was exactly seven weeks ago, the last Saturday in January. Today - INSTANT REPLAY! I am not kidding. Good news - it's not bitter cold! Bad news - it's going to pour rain. Of course it is. I mean, c'mon, it's moving day. Gotta be uncomfortable! Gotta have pain!

Bryce is moving in with Wade (my middle son). 

That is the proverbial long story short. 

These seven weeks have been an unrelenting series of problems in that apartment rental, unlike anything any of us have experienced. One example - that very first night in his 'new' apartment, the lights went out and his heat went off because he used the microwave. Looking back, this was also one of the rare times the landlord actually responded in a timely manner to a problem - within an hour of sitting in the dark, Bryce was given directions on how to enter a basement apartment and flip the breaker. (And, yes, this is still the required fix for this ongoing electrical problem - better yet, turn off heat and everything else before using the microwave.) 

There's been an endless series of horrors with this place - I cannot even begin to share the story. It really is Bryce's to tell, and he has been advocating for himself on this, reaching out to appropriate authorities, documenting every bit of rot, vermin, outage, leak, request, complaint, response (lame or ignored), violation...suffice to say, it is not a livable situation. 

So, two brothers will now be living together! This situation adds about forty minutes to Bryce's work commute, which is definitely an inconvenience, but it will so much better for his sanity. 

Here's to another Saturday move! May it be the last one for awhile.