Days of Our Lives

Our relocubes, all loaded and ready to go.

After my frenzied search for movers, and van carriers coupled with istikharahs, we decided to go with ABF U Pack because we had two friends who recommended it. I personally don’t like other people packing my stuff anyway. Call it another boon (or is it curse) of my perfectionism. I mean, how will they know where I want my stuff to be? How will they know how I like  my things organized? How will they know the organization system that will work for me? I couldn’t let other people touch  my stuff. I don’t even like people cleaning my home or reorganizing my space. Because different people have different styles and preferences, and I like to keep mine. So, I actually savored the process of packing our stuff, decluttering and everything, even though at some point it was stressful. I have always packed my stuff by myself and call me old school, but I really still don’t see how having other people pack your stuff can work (for me). Call me stubborn too.

We actually debated over how many relocubes we would need, because after 7 years of living in that apartment, most of our furniture are completely worn. We knew that we would move one day, so we didn’t bother replacing old and worn furniture, but used them to their death instead. All we had then were boxes, and boxes really don’t take up that much space, if you know how to arrange and stack them.

However, we had bought new beds (mattresses and box springs) for the kids, so we got two. After loading the relocubes, with help from the Malay brothers, alhamdulillah, we realized that had we not bought those mattresses and box springs, we could have done away with the other relocube.

Bit by bit every day gets the work done in the end alhamdulillah!

Packing was always coupled with cleaning and scrubbing. In our first apartment, I only had to scrub the oven and stove because they were going to demolish the apartment complex, so alhamdulillah we didn’t have to worry about the rest of the apartment. In Georgia, I don’t remember cleaning much, but maybe that is because we only lived there for a year.

The oven was pretty easy to clean. It’s the stove top that’s a pain in the neck to clean. I hate, with caps, HATE, electric coil burners because of the drip pans.

Despite putting the aluminm liners and trying to clean them after each use, it was really not practical. Alhamdulillah we have a gas stove now.

The fridge, almost empty.

I have always wanted a chest freezer. My excuse before: I can bake things ahead of time and freeze them. When unexpected guests drop by, I have something to serve them. My excuse now: same thing, plus I can make allergy-free items for Baby Z and freeze them for easy reheating when he needs them. No ‘he-wants-this-so-I-make-it-now’ hassle. As of yet, we have yet to get a chest freezer. Hubby did say to me,

“You do know that an extra freezer uses a lot of electricity, don’t you?”

I do.

It was heart-breaking to walk through the empty apartment, though I think it didn’t really feel that way much because we were just dead tired and just wanted to get it all over with. I wonder if anyone has moved in the apartment yet now.

The plastic corner shelf we had brought from Georgia. It served me well when I had Baby Z.

Emptying the apartment took more time than we had thought. I had already packed everything and we had even loaded the relocubes, but it still proved harrying when it came to emptying the apartment. There was the carpets to take out, and then there was the floor to mop, which hubby and the kids did with cloths we were throwing out. Throughout all this moving process, Baby Z learned to take his naps on his own. Exhausted beyond what he could bear, he would fall asleep anywhere. Once, the girls placed him on two pillows because we had already loaded our mattresses away. This was during the time when we were still clearing out the apartment, but we hadn’t yet checked into the hotel. And now, Baby Z has developed a habit of falling asleep in a prostrating position. Just yesterday, he fell asleep in sujud while we were praying Zuhr. When S picked him up to move him to his bed, he didn’t even stir.

Our empty room...sigh.

As for the hotel, well, that has another story to it. HUbby and I had agreed that we would check into Red Roof Inn, the one close to our apartment, so we could continue clearing out the apartment after we checked in. People say opposites attract. Well, I guess in our case that’s true. I do not like last minute stuff. Hubby on the other hand, despite being organized, does things last minute, and this drives me crazy each time.

There I was stuck in front of the computer, figuring out the logisctics of the move by myself, searching for movers, van carriers and what not. And i told hubby repeatedly,

“Book the hotel now. We know what date we have to vacate the apartment already, so just book it now.”

He kept putting it off, for I don’t know what, but men are wont to do that, don’t they? So that’s no surprise.

Well, he never booked it till the really last minute, and that was also after a lot of pestering from me. One morning, he called me from his office and said,

“I have some bad news.”

I was exhausted at the time, still trying to deal with van carriers.

“I wanted to book Red Roof, and I was looking at the other hotels, I was bidding, and then I clicked and it locked me in. I called them to change but they wouldn’t let me. Our hotel is in Hilliard.”

That’s like 20 or more minutes away from our apartment! I sighed and said,”

“Well, what else can we do?”

It turned out that it was not in Hilliard after all, but in Dublin. Still a distance away, but what was bad was that hubby said that the room he accidentally booked only had one queen bed. So when packing, we didn’t toss out the old sleeping bag (which was hubby’s when we first came to the United States as undergraduates), but kept it for the hotel.

As they grew, they outgrew this closet space, which in Iowa, used to accomodate all of their clothes (when they were babies and toddlers of course!)

The night that we drove to the hotel, we were completely exhausted. We had been cleaning the whole day, and hubby had had to still go to work and pick us up since our van was already picked up by the carrier the day before. We got ourselves a rental van. Alhamdulillah the logistics for this, hubby took care of it. I admit, it wasn’t all me. He did his part mashaallah. In fact, he did it so well that we really managed to avoid a lot of hassle in El Paso walhamdulillah!

THe night that we were to check into the hotel, we haven’t had dinner yet, and with one child with allergies, it wasn’t easy planning and carrying out the foor preps. I had made serunding and rendang the week before our final move. I also cookeed all of the poultry we had in the our freezer and a few of it fed it in the final week alhamdulillah. That part of the planning turned out really well by Allah’s permission, alhamdulilah. I didn’t have to worry about cooking during the final week.

Where the dining table (which was also a multipurpose table) used to be. I remember dressing it in the light blue checkered tablecloth I made, and I dressed the window with light blue polka dot handmade Austrian blind. My 'country' kitchen. I have a weakness for interior decorating. I admit.

It was already dark when we drove out to Dublin. I brought only some of the food because from the looks of the description of the room we booked, it seemed that they might not even have a fridge or microwave. When hubby got out of the van to check in the hotel, he said,

“I’ll try to ask if he can transfer us to another branch.”

I am reminded of how the Hayslters cleaned the apartment duringmy pregnancy, while I was napping, and then left me a 'love note'. Such sweetness. May Allah reward them immensely. Ameen.

Meanwhile, the kids uttered remarks like,

“Ooh! This is a posh hotel!”

Posh. Posh. Posh. H couldn’t stop saying it. I chuckled. The only posh hotel we ever stayed in was when we went to the Texas Dawah Conference, and even that, we didn’t pay for it. It was a five star hotel, and we didn’t pay for it, because Qabeelat Hosna and some generous Houstonians did, jazahum Allah khair.

In the midst of all the poshness, I sat there thinking. In the beginning, I wasn’t too happy about the mishap. It would have been easier to have booked Red Roof Inn that was closer to our apartment. Hubby still had to drive to work, and then drop us off at the apartment to finish the cleaning, and then he had to pick us up and drive us back 15 minutes to the hotel and then go back to work. But in my exhaustion, I suddenly found it hilarious. I started to giggle, then it turned into a chortle and before long I was racked with laughter in the front passenger seat in the cold, dark night.

“What Ummi?”

The kids probably thought I had gone crazy.

“Well, at first, I didn’t find it funny, but now, I find it very funny, that Abi had wanted to book a room in a different hotel, but accidentally booked the wrong one instead. And now, he has to drive us all the way here..” and I resumed laughing.

“Well, I don’t find it funny,” S said with a grim touch in her voice.

I couldn’t stop laughing. In between guffaws, I said to her,

The faithful bathroom that served all of us for 7 years

“Yeah…you don’t find it funny..bec..because..you have to sleep on the floor!”

And then the conversation went towards everything else that we all found funny. By the time hubby came back to the van, we were all too busy laughing.

“Wrong hotel,” he said.

And we burst out laughing even more. We were tired, and we needed to check in a hotel, but as they say, laughter is medicine.

When we finally arrived at the correct hotel, I told him, as he got out,

“Ask them if we can change to a bigger room.”

He got out, returned, and told me he forgot to ask that but that we would go look at the room first.

However, he got out before us and went into the room, and came back.

“So?” I asked.

“We’ll manage,” was his answer.

I was about to open my mouth in protest, but I still had the funnies in me, so I let it go. The kids and I got the bags out of the van wh

While hubby went to the room with Baby Z. It was on the second floor. As we heaved and lugged the heavy bags, he looked ot the bedroom window and waved at us, a big grin on his face. The kids and I grunted all the way up the stairs with the bags and muttered why Abi was being so silly.

“Surprise!”he said.

Subhanallah…the room was fully equipped with kitchennette, a pull out sofa bed, which meant the kids didn’t have to sleep on the floor after all (though H had to because the girls slept on the sofa bed), and internet connection. Surprise indeed. Saved by the pull out sofa bed and kitchennette. Alhamdulillah, that night, I could truly feel Allah’s blessings. It could have turned out ugly had I made a big deal out of hubby’s mistake, but alhamdulillah Allah was so merciful that He gave me the tawfeeq to not make a big deal out of it and in the end, we were rewarded amply, more than what we could ask for.

I was not expecting a kitchennette or a pull out sofa bed, but we lived ratherly luxuriously for a few days before we flew to New Mexico. Alhamdulillah! The price was pretty good too, for such a service, alhamdulillah. Throughout this move, we have really felt Allah’s blessings with us all the way, subhanallah. I cannot express it, and I ask that Allah channels our gratitude towards actions that please Him. May we be of the shaakireen. Ameen.