2.01.2005

Moving woe

My mom is retiring, dissolving her household, and becoming a wandering mendicant (almost). Her lease was up at 12:01 this morning, and fortunately her landlord wasn't there at 12:02, because we were still loading the car and vacuuming at 3:30. Be forgiving, dear reader: I have had 5 hours of sleep.

Do you have a co-worker that is slow on the uptake and that has a set way of doing their tasks which cannot be deviated from? And when you must work closely with this person, have you found that you must approach things the way they do, with an optional wasting-of-your-breath in the attempt to persuade them to try another method for once?

My mom is a bright person. I got to be a bright person through interacting with her over the last 29 years, and I enjoy spending time with her. But last night as bedtime came and went, she turned into one of those slow co-workers with whom persuasion should not be attempted. To be fair, I probably did too. We divided tasks and stayed out of each other's way, but exchanges along the lines of "Where's the packing tape" would take several minutes to complete. Like this:

Me - Keys to Jeep? (shouted over vacuuming noise - box in my arms)
Mom - Huh?
Me - Where are the keys to the Jeep?
Mom - Yes, that box is stuff to keep.
Me (leaning over and turning off vacuum) - Where are the keys to the Jeep?
Mom - Oh. (Pats jeans pocket.) Here.

Notice how my question was a subject, an object, and a question mark. I was two steps from grunting and pointing.

The sudden influx of family furniture is overwhelming - I thought there was no such thing as too many dressers, but I was mistaken. I have 3 bureaus in my bedroom, all half-full. The dog and the goldfish have their own bureau to share. It's ridiculous. My house is chest-high in stuff, with paths from the front door to the couch to the kitchen to the bedroom. I hope it will be a house again in a week or so.

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