A crash course in moving
by By Brian Herzog

My fiancée and I bought a house together, and faced the process of moving the contents of our two apartments into a single house.

She was moving from her apartment in Arlington, and had only one week to move out before the new tenant moved in. Towards the end of the week, the move was going pretty well. But then, the weather took a turn for the worse. Rain started mid-morning, but she hoped it would let up before she was ready to start loading her pick-up truck.

It didn't. So, in the rain, all by herself, loaded up her small pick-up truck, covered the loaded bed with a tarp, and then also packed the passenger seat full. About two blocks from her house, as she turned a corner, everything in the passenger seat broke free and slid into her, causing her to swerve. A small vase fell to the floor by her feet and became wedged under the brake pedal, preventing her from stopping. Her truck jumped the curb and smashed into a tree.

She had just a few cuts and scrapes, but the front-end of the truck was totaled. She called the police and AAA, who sent a tow truck. After the police left, the tow truck driver asked her what garage the truck should go to. Since her possessions were still loaded in the back, my fiancée managed to talk the tow truck driver into first towing the truck back to her apartment so she could unload it. She also talked him into helping her unload and carry everything back up to her third floor apartment. In the rain. The spectacle brought out her neighbors, who also came out to help.

But the story ends happily. Her insurance bought her a new truck, and we finished moving into our new house the next week.