Leaving Chicago. We couldn't have done it w/o

Leaving Chicago. We couldn't have done it without our friends the Erenbergs.

Despite knowing we were moving many, many weeks before the day. Even after much preparation including giving items and boxes of items away to friends and two Rodeo loads full of stuff to the Salvation Army (thanks Eric and Sarah for the use of your wheels), when the time came to pull out of town on Friday, June 16th, we weren't ready.

We'd spent many productive days packing and organizing. It seemed everything was going so well. The movers, who loaded the truck for us, even commented on how organized we were and predicted we'd have plenty of room in the tuck. At noon, I was saying, we'd be out of there by 1:00. They loaded all of the boxes, our beds, dressers, bikes, most of the big stuff, then left.

The thing was, when the movers left at 2:00, we were completely out of space in the truck. The only things we could fit were things that could be thrown over the couches into the open space that remained. And it turned out that not everything we wanted to load had made it. Cam's birthday grill from last year, sat there staring at us. I'd purchased a portable grill so it would be easy to take with us when we moved but it just wasn't fitting into the truck without some major rearranging we weren't equipped to do and didn't have time for. Suddenly, it became a gift for Cam's brother.

And the house, seemingly empty but filled with things like lamps, most of which we didn't want to take but there was this little bedside lamp that we liked and would have been happy to take. It just wouldn't survive being tossed into the abyss that was the space in front of the couches. Happily, it found a new home with my friend Eileen.

The Erenbergs had been trying to have us over for dinner to celebrate our wedding, my gosh, for over a year and for whatever reason, we just weren't able to coordinate schedules and find a date that would stick. Finally, as the our last day of being neighbors approached, we knew it was now or never. We had a fabulous dinner and even better time with them the week before the move. I'm so happy we sat that time aside. I kept meaning to go over and spend some more quality hang-out time and say a final good-bye but there always seemed to be something else that needed done.

At one point, after the movers had loaded everything there was to sit on, I walked over looking for a place to lay down for a minute. (With all of the adrenaline of the move, I'd been up since 2am.) It is so nice to have friends whose door you can knock on and say, I just need to lay on your couch for a bit. Even if your mom isn't home. Unfortunately, I missed Eileen again.

The movers left and Cam asked me to go grab some lunch for us while he loaded the last few things into the truck. When I returned, we realized the gravity of the situation. While it seemed we were really almost done, it was 2:45. Our deadline for leaving without being slammed by rush-hour traffic was 3:00. Cam said, he wished he were dead which seems a bit extreme but we had gone from thinking things were working out wonderfully to realizing we might not make it in just a couple of hours. All of a sudden, Eileen pulled up and walked over to see how things were coming. After assesing the situation, she suggested we just get in the truck and go and leave the rest of the stuff for them to finish.

There she was, shining a beacon of hope back into our day. Before her offer, I had mentally accepted that we'd have to leave after rush hour, maybe the next day, which would throw our entire moving schedule off kilter. I couldn't believe she meant what she was saying or that we were really thinking of taking her up on her generous offer but all of a sudden, almost before we knew what was happening, Sam and the kids were in the yard with us. Good-byes, hugs and games of ring-around-the-rosy were being had. Where are Sam's shoes? Who knows? Who cares? Let's just go. Kitties were thrown into cat carriers. One was placed on Sam's lap, the other on mine. Cam got into the driver's seat and we drove away.

We left many wonderful people, places and memories behind but thanks to our friend's the Erenbergs, we were able to go.