Operation Big White Cargo Van

Wow…I have just realized that I’m not the princess I’ve been accused of being so many times!  Why, you ask?  Well, today I drove a big, white, cargo van all by myself!  Well, I wasn’t all by myself because BFF came with me to the rental place as my back-up driver.  There was a high probability that I wasn’t going to be able to drive it.  Not that I wasn’t physically able to drive the van but emotionally and psychologically unable to drive it!  But guess what?  I drove it all the way home!!!  As I was driving into town, cruising down Main Street, I was thinking that I was pretty kick ass cool (just saying “pretty kick ass cool” makes me pretty kick ass cool, don’t you think?) because all of the townspeople were watching (okay, not all of them!) as two cute chicks pulled into town in the big, white cargo van.   I think they might even ask me to be in the Christmas parade (got any peppermints in that bag…sorry, that was an inside “Christmas parade” joke understood by only a handful of people!).  

Big White Cargo Van (BWCV)
Objects in photo are (much) larger than they appear

Now that I’m home after driving the BWCV through town, I think I can officially say that I’m beginning to freak out!!!  Tomorrow is moving day!!!  Ugh!   Did you think I was just cruising around in the big, white cargo van for fun?  I’m hoping this blog post keeps my mind occupied long enough so that the tears don’t start to flow thinking about my baby girl moving away for university.   Yes, it’s that kind of moving day!  Sadly, the other night, I walked downstairs and saw all of Sarah’s belongings neatly organized in the corner ready to be packed into the BWCV and I started to cry.  Not because Sarah had actually organized her stuff neatly but because she’s leaving.  And they weren’t tears of joy!  So I guess it’s true:  what goes around comes around!  Now I know how my parents must have felt when I told them I was moving “far” away for university!  I may not remember how my parents reacted to the news that I was moving 400+ kilometers away from home but today reminds me of when I moved away for university.  That moving day feels like yesterday!   

First of all, I lived in residence at university so there wasn’t much for us to move (I had to bring my big block stereo with me though and it took up 1/3 of the back seat…remember when stereo equipment was big and bulky?!).  Sure my living space was limited in residence, hence, I was limited in what I could bring with me but my true motivation for bringing less with me was to make sure there was room for my boyfriend in the car!  Dad, Mom, Boyfriend, Me and My Stuff piled into my parents’ car and drove 4+ hours to university.   Now that was a road trip to remember.  I was in the front seat with Dad and Boyfriend while Mom was in the back seat with My Stuff.  How did that happen?  After all my stuff was unpacked and they got the tour of residence and the campus, they were off.   I remember staring at the car as they left the campus.  I felt stuck.  My legs wouldn’t move.  It’s as if I was waiting for them to come back for me but they didn’t.  The car looked so empty without Me and My Stuff in the car.  I was told that the car ride home was filled with a mixture of silence and sobs;  void of words.  According to one reliable source, the three travellers cried all the way home.  I don’t think I can cry and drive so I’m hoping I can keep it together until I get home (can I not cry for 4.5 hours after dropping my baby off in a big city?).  Well, the good news is that only Sarah’s Stuff is staying behind;  my baby girl is coming home with me!   I still get to spend another week with her before the official “drop-off”. 

When it comes to the moving of stuff, I feel like somewhat of an expert.  In the last 20 years, I have moved a total of 9 times including moving from Mom and Dad’s to university then back to Mom and Dad’s then to 7 different apartments/houses.  Wow, that’s a lot of moving!  Especially considering that Sarah has had 8 residences in her lifetime!  Every move, however, was a positive move so there’s no need to feel sorry for us.  We made lots of memories in many different places.  Some people like to change things up in their homes by moving the furniture around or buying something new for the house or putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls but I like to move!   I’d like to think that Sarah has developed great character as a result of moving so much and having to make new friends in many new places.  It’s almost like all of those moves has prepared her for the next chapter in her life…post-secondary education and living on her own!   I can’t talk about that right now or else I’ll cry (yes, I’m a big cry baby!).  

The great thing about moving so many times is that you don’t accumulate as much stuff because every move requires a purging of our material possessions.  Sure I still have 10 Rubbermaid bins full of Sarah’s artwork from the time she could hold a crayon along with mementos from all of our road trips vacations or from any special occasion but besides that, I’m not a rat pack pack rat (really I'm not!).  If I’m not using something, I’d rather give it to someone who could use it or recycle it/throw it away if it’s no longer useable.  Moving has made me appreciate my space and I have been able to reduce/eliminate my attachment to stuff.  Maybe that’s why I despise shopping…I don’t want to buy anything  because I know that one day I will have to move it so I choose not to buy it.   Sarah, also known as “the shopper”, is about to learn about “stuff” and “space” and “moving stuff into a specific space”.  Last week, we went to her new apartment to measure everything so we she would know how much “stuff” we she could move into her new apartment.   I think she’s already starting to learn how to respect space (especially when the space is limited!) which should lead to a respect for stuff or better yet, a lack of stuff. 

These past few weeks have been stress-filled and I have to be honest and say that we have been getting on each other’s nerves to the point where Sarah yelled at me one night and said “do you really want our relationship to be ruined right before I leave for university?”.  Okay, it was a little dramatic (I have no idea where she gets that from!) but I think we are both guilty of being unable to control our emotions. I hope she knows that my “bitchiness” is driven by stress, worry, fear and sadness because my baby girl is leaving for university.   I’m sure her "crabiness" is driven by similar emotions but at the end of the day, I hope she remembers that my love for her is unconditional.  Deep down really, really deep down, I’m thrilled for Sarah because she's going to a great university, she's following her heart, reaching her goals and is open to the opportunities life has to offer.  Mixed in with the worry and fear are copious amounts of happiness and excitement (really!).   I'm so proud of Sarah!!!  Crap, tears are starting to flow.  Seriously though, I’m ecstatic to be sharing this momentous occasion with her…the big move to university!!!   

Okay, I need to take a little break from typing (I feel emotionally exhausted!) and I’ll be back once the van is packed.  Actually, I just remembered that I have my final piano lesson with boy genius tonight (he’s leaving for university on Monday!) so I better go practice before my lesson.   Maybe I’ll have some funny stories to share with you.  How could I not?  I've never had to move anything on my own before because I had a boyfriend to help me move or I hired movers, hence the princess title, so this experience may prove to be a modern day "Comedy of Errors"...a princess single mom and her teenage princess daughter packing up the big white cargo van and heading to university…

Well, I’m back and I’m exhausted and the van's not yet packed!  Sadly, I think I only brought three things up from the basement to the van then I quit but at least I have an excuse…damn frozen shoulder!  I’m pretty sure they were the three biggest things to pack into the van (ahem!) and I did help with the mattresses although we were three people.  Thankfully, Sarah’s friend is here to help pack up the BWCV (thank you!!!).  We were, however, delayed in getting started...

After piano lesson, BFF picked me up to bring me shopping for cleaning supplies (I left my car behind when I picked up the BWCV so I needed a limo service to avoid having to drive through town again in the BWCV and attract all kinds of attention, and BFF came cheap!).  Why the sudden need for cleaning supplies shopping?  Well, as I was typing the first half of my blog, I started fearing that the apartment might not be spic ‘n span clean when we arrive so a major clean-up might be required before we unpack but we didn’t buy cleaning supplies for her apartment yet so a run to the store was required.  Oh I just remembered that I also bought Reese’s peanut butter cups while I was at the store so I need to take a little break to retrieve my little orange package of yumminess (I’m a stressed-out mother who is sending her baby girl off to university so I’m allowed to indulge, okay?). 

As we pulled into my driveway after our cleaning supplies shopping spree, we spotted the itty bitty kitten that’s been hanging around my house.  I told BFF that it looked like the kitten had some kind of growth on its neck but he/she didn’t let me get close enough to him/her to see what was on his/her neck.  Of course, I’m not very good with stuff like that so even if I could get close enough I don’t think I could handle seeing an injury or growth or protrusion.    Always the hero, BFF got down on all fours and tried to entice the kitten to come towards her.  No such luck but she got very close.   The kitten ran into a bush as Sarah and her friend arrived.  Thankfully, they helped us rescue the kitten from the bush (Sarah is an animal lover!).  Ironically enough, it was Sarah’s friend, the one who doesn’t particularly like animals, who caught the kitten (Yay Sarah’s friend!).   BFF assessed the bluish icky thing on the itty bitty kitty’s neck and determined that it was a tick that had grown 1,000,000 times its size (ewwww gross!!!).  I got the cleaning gloves from my bag of cleaning supplies in the van, and gave them to BFF who got down and dirty with the tick (BFF won!).  Sarah was BFF’s assistant while I had the most critical role – I held the flashlight on kitten, BFF and Sarah during operation tick-be-gone.    Sarah’s friend was responsible for disposing of the tick (we can’t all have glorious jobs!).    Sarah noticed there was another tick on its neck although it was, what I would consider to be, a normal sized tick.  BFF proceeded to remove the second tick.  Sarah’s friend grabbed the peroxide and I grabbed the Polysporin to clean up the itty bitty kitty and make sure he (BFF checked his genitalia and it turns out he/she is male!) didn’t get infected. 

Operation Tick-Be-Gone

I know this blog is dedicated to education so you're probably wondering why I haven't gone on and on about how to properly remove a tick but let's face it, there are probably lots of blogs out there dedicated to proper tick removal so I'll let you figure it out on your own.   Seriously though, you can't just trust that the entire tick will be removed (head included!) by just yanking it out so educate yourself first!  In case you were wondering, here's a photo of the ginormous tick on the itty bitty kitty:

WARNING:  I would avoid having any food in my mouth while viewing the photo...it's graphic!!!

What a night!   The kitty went on his way tick-free, BFF returned home and Operation Big White Cargo Van finally began.  The kids are still working on packing the van while I sit in my room, typing this blog post, eating the peanut butter cups and babysitting the cats while they are locked up in my room (one of which is annoying the crap out of me right now because of course, he’s curious and wants to know what’s happening out there!).  

So tomorrow morning at 7am (Saturday), we will head out on what will be one of our most memorable road trips yet!  Can’t wait for our first pit stop...Starbucks  :)

For now, this princess needs to get her beauty sleep  :P