In which we transition (part the second)

(continued)

Fortunately, we live(d) only a half mile from Meijer, and so, with no further ado, I forced Cherry to walk with me and buy the things that we most needed. And quickly came to the conclusion that we needed a car. I really didn't want to rent one yet though, since that seemed like it would be really expensive. So, naturally, I called my mom and suggested that she might have some deep-seated subconscious desire to come to Urbana and provide me with transportation for awhile. And, amazingly, she found that she did have a deep-seated subconscious desire to do so, but not until Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, we would have to get where we wanted to go by foot, bus, or some combination thereof. Sunday, we walked to Meijer to catch the bus to campus for mass, and from there to the movies since Sapphire's friends were getting together a group to watch The Fault in our Stars and then the bus back home (via campus) and the hike back from Meijer.

Monday, Mom arrived, and so for three and a half days we had a car. Life would have seemed almost normal, except for the fact that we had boxes all over the house and every time I had a brilliant idea for something to make for dinner it turned out that some critical component was either packed or tossed and the fact that we perpetually had stuff all over the front porch for someone to come and pick up for Freecycle. Oh, and that there were a whole bunch of bonus eleven year old boys there on Tuesday night.

On Thursday she left, and was replaced by two delightful eight year olds who (unfortunately) did not come with vehicles but did come with dolls and sleeping bags and pillows and did an impressive job of taking over the family room. They were picked up Friday morning, and we promptly packed up our swimsuits and towels and figured out the bus route to the swimming pool. (Walk to Meijer, take the Red to the Illini Union, walk to the nearest ATM (ok, that wasn't actually part of the bus route, but I needed cash for the swimming pool), walk back to the Union, get on the Blue to the pool, get off and walk to the pool, arriving thirty minutes before it opens. Timing with the buses is tricky, OK?)

Sunday we rode the bus to mass again (this time at our regular church) and then we were done with the buses, at least in Urbana-Champaign, at least for now. Well, not quite. I still had to ride the bus to pick up the car on Monday afternoon, in between Ezio having a friend dropped off for a sleepover and Cherry getting picked up for a sleepover, and me dropping Sapphire off at a sleepover. (Did I mention that this was complicated?) But, at least we had a car, and a deadline, and one more farewell celebration (for Sapphire), and one more birthday party (for Cherry's friend), and one more trip to the swimming pool (for Ezio and Cherry), and a whole bunch of stuff to put into boxes. Also a reservation for a twenty foot rental truck that I was terrified to drive, and an agreement with the neighbor across the street and his friend to help me load the truck.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are perhaps best not thought about, but somehow, by bedtime on Thursday, everything (almost) was in boxes and taped and ready to be loaded on the truck, and Sapphire's (fifty ton) desk was disassembled and on the living room floor, and Ezio's bunk beds had been disassembled so that they could get through the door, and nearly everything that I wanted to Freecycle had been picked up.

Moving on Friday took six hours and three trips to the storage unit and I did not, in fact, drive the truck into anything that I shouldn't have until I was trying to gas it back up and got stuck on the little protector things that stick out of the ground around the gas pumps. And then I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and stayed stuck until some lovely gentleman got out of his car and laughingly directed me out of my predicament. Alas, we weren't actually done yet. There were still things that needed to be thrown out or recycled and so it wasn't until Saturday morning that we were finally able to get on the road for the next step in our journey to Marseille.