The containers are loaded

Well, it's done . . . almost.

Terry showed up with a couple of guys that, well, he might have picked up from the local gas station.

They worked for eight hours with little rest. When it got to lunch, we told them they were free to go eat but Terry said: "Nah, we'll just take a rest after we are done upstairs."

So they sat around drinking some water from some bottles we gave them. No lunch. They just sat, and drank, and sweat.

Terry is a nice guy, gentle, kind, and has his head on straight -- even if his family is kind of a mess. While he sat drinking my water he told me about his life, his wife, and the son they had between them .

"She's bipolar" he revealed. "She's black and she's got that thing going on. She's got more personalities than I can keep up with. Plus, her and I have different views on education. So my son is 12 but reads like a second grader." I gathered that the son lived with her until recently.

So Terry has taken custody and through Sylvan Learning Center is trying to give his son an education and bring him up to his own grade level. I feel for Terry.

He told me a little more about the improvements the son has made since living with him.

Terry told me: "The first stage was keeping him in school. He kept getting suspended because of all the trouble he was causing. Then I had to get him to stop being the class clown. Now I have to give him some self-esteem and bring his grades up. You and your son seem close." He told me as he looked up at me from the lower stair tread.

I told him a little about the relationship Eric and I have and some of the successes we've had. He was happy to hear it and said he'd like to try some of the ideas with his son.

After their lunch of water I went out and bought some burgers for the three of them. There were two reasons for this. Number one, I didn't want them to keel over while loading my stuff. I'd have to call an ambulance and that would only mean they would not be able to finish loading our containers today. And secondly, I wanted them to go faster. We were paying them $75 an hour!

They were grateful for the burgers and they seemed to pick up a little speed.

They all finally left after laboring for eight solid hours. We waved goodbye after we handed them a check and another round of bottled water. They drove off in a little red Toyota truck. The three of them were stuffed in the front seat. I guess they really are good at this packing thing. Anyway, some of our junk was tied down in the back. They were headed for the dump. Well, at least that's where he said they were headed. "It's on our way home." he told me. But I'd guess I'm likely to see my stuff piled off to the side of the road near one or our neighborhood construction sites.

In the end we didn't fit all our stuff in the 20 footer. Nor was Terry, Rodruiguez and Emanuel able to fit the the rest of it in the additional 12 footer. So we ordered another 16 foot container. It'll be here tomorrow morning and maybe I'll finally be able to clean out this huge house of it's junk.

...dave
I was born by Caesarian section...but not so you'd notice. It's just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window. -Stephen Wright