Time to Move!
20 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
I have been waiting for this week for four long months. The longest four months of my life!!! Tomorrow, we close on our new home and we are MOVING! I am so grateful. The Lord has poured out blessings on our little family that I would never had imagined possible in the weeks that followed our loss. To be able to give my sweet baby girls a home that we will fill with good and wonderful memories just brings me to tears of gratitude. Thank you, Jesus!
But, oh boy! I totally forgot what a pain in the rear it was to connect services to a brand new home. Each utility of course has it’s own automated phone number where you spend thirty minutes pressing numbers so they can best direct your call, only to be asked the exact same questions once you get a real person, and then you are put on hold for another hour while that person transfers you to another department. I did this at least ten times today. God forbid, you’ve been on hold 45 minutes when you finally get to a real live human being who can help you and suddenly there is a freak solar eclipse and you lose your service! And what I hate even worse are those voice recognition lines. You know what I’m talking about, “please say your blah, blah, blah…for example, say ‘blah, blah, blah’…” Then, after the automated monologue, you say your answer only to hear it repeat something completely whacked and ask you, “Is this correct?” No! That’s not even close to what I said! “Okay, let’s try again. Please say blah, blah, blah…” Usually, if it didn’t understand you the first time, it’s not going to get you on the second-take. Sometimes those things end and sometimes they don’t and you have to just admit telephonic defeat and hang up. It’s even worse when you have kids because every squeak they make in the background puts the automated system into overdrive, “I’m having trouble understanding you. Please repeat that.” Hannah! Shut up!!! (spoken silently with a glare and a sharp finger to the lips which sends her into a fit of giggles) “I’m sorry. Let’s try again.” Ohhhhhhhh, forget it!
Because of this I am definitely not looking forward to calling and changing my address. For one, I live on a street with a ridiculous name that’s a throwback to an eighties movie. I can almost guess someone’s age based on whether they hear it and giggle or ask me to spell it. The other reason is that I have mail going to half a dozen separate addresses, most of which are also being forwarded multiple times. I’m sure there are more than a few important pieces of mail that are just being passed in an eternal circle at the post office right now. “Steve, didn’t I give you this same catalog yesterday?” For all I know I could have a warrant out for my arrest because I did not respond to a jury duty notice from three months ago. “Please don’t arrest me, officer! I swear I just got the notice today. See these seventeen yellow forwarding stickers on it? I think the post office was confused!”
Ah, but as crazy as dealing with the phone and the mail can be, it’s easier than having to go somewhere to take care of something. Never mind the fact that I have two kids and it takes an hour and an army just to get them fed, dressed, changed and loaded into carseats twice just to run a “quick” errand. Let me assure you, the world would end before I ever ran to the store for just a gallon of milk. If we leave this house, we come back with the Mothership LOADED. So it bugs me that I have to make a personal appearance to get water service and a trash can. Yes, water, that wet stuff that falls from the sky for free? Well, in order to get the filtered version from your tap it requires a face-to-face interview, copy of your deed, and a driver’s license. I’m sure they’ll want a blood sample before they turn over my BFI can.
But as much of a headache as all this has become, it is truly a blessing! I’m giving my girls (and myself) a home. I can honestly say, you never know what home is until you’ve lost yours. It goes so far beyond four walls! It’s sacred. I look forward to the days my girls and I will spend together transforming our new house into a safe, comfortable, and loving God-centered home!
