Tonight's picture was taken on December 21, 2008. That day we drove down to the Washington Mall, got out and wheeled Mattie to see the Nation's Christmas tree, the state trees, and the wonderful holiday trains. This was a family tradition we used to do together, and as you can see Mattie was bundled up but also did not want to take a photo. Who could blame him. Nonetheless, I am happy we took him and did capture this moment in time.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 49,380,791
- Number of people who died from the virus: 791,514
Being away from the house last night and staying at the hotel was thrilling. I got a reprise from boxes, packing, and nonstop chores. I am working so hard that I have carpal tunnel in both of my hands. This started with my own move and has gotten worse in Los Angeles. I got up at 5:45am, so that I could get to the house by 7:30am to meet the mover.
Today was a night and day difference from yesterday. Apparently my screaming accomplished something. I met Bill at 7:30am, he is the driver of the actual moving truck and will be hauling our items across the country. Bill is a New Yorker and we grew up not far from each other. He has been doing this job for 33 years and is very knowledgeable. He wanted to do a walk through of the house today. When we did, he could clearly see that yesterday's packers did little to nothing. That most of the packing was done by me. Turns out I packed over 50 boxes and bins. Which truly made their packing today much easier.
After I met with Bill, Carlos showed up. He is the assistant general manager of the moving company. He apologized for yesterday. I explained how rude the relocation consultant was to me and instead of listening to my concerns, only proceeded to tell me I was rude and that he never interacted with a client like me in his 13 years. I told him I was surprised given the way he was treating me, I would expect he has had MANY unhappy customers.
All I know is 8 people showed up at the house today. Three experienced packers and five movers. All 8 were outstanding. By 3pm, they had the rest of the house packed and loaded onto trucks. Because of the narrow nature of my parent's driveway, they couldn't bring a big moving truck to the house. So instead they rented a Uhaul van, loaded it, and then shuttled the items to an off site location where the moving truck was. Truly they were impressive and each and every person was kind, professional, and restored my confidence in humanity. After yesterday, I really wasn't sure anymore.
The movers were dying of heat within the house. Fortunately it was a cool day in Los Angeles. We opened every window and door in the house and that helped dramatically. As they emptied rooms, I cleaned out each room of dust and debris. I was the clean up crew. Which was fine with me because I don't like sitting still when I know there is work to be done. Given how outstanding they were today, I tipped each and every one of them.
After dumping trash and closing up the house, I went back to the hotel. I was brilliant to have my dad's caregiver come to the hotel today and tomorrow. She really helped me, because I can't be in two places at once. I took my parents out to an early dinner. When I was driving back to the hotel, my dad asked me where we were going? He was confused and thought we were going back to their house. When I said we were going to the hotel, he seemed surprised and I asked if he remembered staying at the hotel last night. He did not! Nor could he remember what he had for breakfast this morning. There is a hotel employee that my parent's know very well. They know him because three years ago, they had to stay at the hotel for many months because of a flood in their house. So they got to know Tony. When my parents saw Tony today, my dad did not remember him at all. NOT AT ALL. This is a person who he saw daily for quite some time and took care of my parents in the hotel's restaurant! It is abundantly clear that my dad's memory has declined significantly over these last 7 months, and my mom is depleted physically and emotionally. Seems to me I got here before things got even worse.
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