Move-In Day & Easy Stuff Like That...

(That whole title was such a big lie.)

So, part of me is excited about beginning this post of hilarity & chaos, but part of me does not even know how I can begin to fully describe the events of Sunday, September 2nd. So here goes nothing...

Moment #1: Driving the Penske...without dad.

I woke up that morning around 8:30am and waited for the signal from the future roommates - Rachel & Alekza - that they were ready for me to begin my 30-minute trek from Queens to Brooklyn. Alekza was a live-in nanny for an awesome Brooklyn family this summer, and our first step was to load all of her stuff into the truck before heading into Manhattan. I was so afeared of driving this dinosaur-of-a-vehicle that I couldn't even bring myself to pull into McDonald's for breakfast. That's right...I went without breakfast & coffee...by choice.

Dumb decision #1. 

So I loaded up the rest of my stuff, locked up the truck and climbed into the driver's seat. Luckily, dad had allowed me to practice driving a little bit the day before so I was feeling quasi-qualified for the task. After a semi-terrifying 20 minutes of playing the Penske-driver AND navigator, I was finally on the home-stretch to Brooklyn. Big moment #2: realizing that the streets of Brooklyn are the width of a peanut. So I popped in the mirrors, said a prayer and sucked in, hoping on my LIFE that I wouldn't hear any scratches. Big moment #3: I spotted a SINGLE parking spot on Alekza's street big enough for the truck. I began to wedge myself into the spot in perfect parallel parking form...until I heard a squeak. The side of my truck was rubbing elbows with the bumper of a car.

Oh. The. HORROR.

I literally had no idea what to do. I mean, what do you do?!? No one taught me how to handle these adult-life situations!!!! So I did what any calm, cool & rational adult would do. I got out of the car & started directing angry New Yorker traffic, "I'm stuck! Just go around me! I'M STUCK, OKAY?" ... Not one of my prouder moments.

Big moment #4: Luckily, I'm a decently sensible driver (I know you're thinking, "HA, WHAT?" But I promise, I'm pretty okay;), so I managed to maneuver myself out of that situation, get into that parking spot and then walked over to check out the damage. And there was none! Praise the LORD! The Penske was scratch-free, and the owner of the other car was the most chill. She came out, shook my hand and we were able to wipe the yellow Penske mark right off her bumper. I'm telling you, the Lord was so with me in that 5 minutes of panic. The girl then re-parked and allowed us to have enough room to load our truck. Everything was going to be okay! (It wasn't until this moment that I was able to realize how tense my body had been for the past 45 minutes. So. Tense.)

And luckily for Alekza...her first time meeting me was in this state of absolute certifiable insanity. But she was able to see past that. ;) (P.s. Meanwhile, Rachel & Alekza had been signing the lease...& little did I know, due to a "This paper isn't notarized!" issue, we almost didn't get our apartment...so, bullet dodged, am I right?)

So we loaded up our truck and headed towards Manhattan! After about 15 minutes of "recalculating," we eventually made our way to the Hugh L. Carey tunnel toll station where they then spotted Rachel's lack-of-seat and asked us to remove a passenger before carrying on our way. Remove a passenger. Yeah, okay, no problem. (Do you know how long it took us to get here!?!) :p So poor lil Rae had to be dropped off at the nearest subway station to meet us at our destination. But if we're gonna be honest here, I left her with the statement, "Trust me. I would rather be getting on that subway right now than staying here in this truck." And oh-ho-ho did I mean it.

We got back on the road, showed the toll workers our "Penske papers," and FINALLY Alekza and I were making our way through the tunnel & onto the island of Manhattan! This was a good moment. We began passing through Lower Manhattan, Greenwich Village & then Chelsea, and besides playing the "get to know you" game, the only sounds that could be heard in our truck were "Oh my gosh! Is this real life? Wait, we live here! HOLY COW, look at all the little New York people!"

^^ This photo was taken by a very relieved and joyful version of myself! Even while still driving that Penske thang! So now for Moment #5: finding our final parking spot. The good news - at least so we thought - is that Sunday parking is free in most places in the city. The only problem attached to this good news is that everybody knows that...so everybody came out to park! It was like...a parking party! And let me tell you, not many oversized trucks are invited to the parking party...

So we finally made it to 43rd & 8th (OUR STREET CORNER!) and were forced to drive around the block when our greatest fear was realized: there was no parking available. & I couldn't tell if Alekza & Rachel fully realized the depth of that unfortunate news at the time. But luckily, about 15 minutes later, we stumbled upon a slightly illegal "unloading zone" space. But I mean...we were unloading, so why not?!

And if any heaven-sent blessings had fallen upon us that day, the most heavenly of all was that our truck was able to remain parked in this spot - for the next 4 hours! Still insanely grateful! Thank you, Lord! The other heaven-sent blessing came in the form of Alekza's two friends from church - Casey & Casey. These guys were native Texans who, also, had recently made the move up north. And they offered to help us move in! I know without a shadow of a doubt that they had NO idea (nor did we) what they got themselves into that day. But they stuck it out, and we quite literally would not have moved in that day without them...& if they're reading this right now, they're thinking, "I know das right." 

I mean, have you ever moved a Penske truck full of furniture to a 5th floor walk-up apartment?

Sounds kinda hard but "like, totally doable," right? Well, apparently it IS, in fact, doable, but it involves the pain and heat of a thousand suns. True, I was able to survive Faith Christian School athletics ;) but even so, this may have been the-most-difficult physical task any of us have ever completed. Even a bag of vitamins can feel like the anchor of a ship when being carried up 5 flights of stairs on a hot day. Rachel was even inwardly chanting Scripture to stay alive. 

"I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH... 

I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH... 

I mean, RIGHT?"

About two hours, 5 water bottles & buckets of sweat later.......we still weren't done. (I had you going there, didn't I?!) It was like The Myth of Sisyphus up in here.

Theatre History & Masterworks sHoUt OuT.

No matter how much stuff we brought up, somehow the truck seemed all-the-more packed! A little discouraging. But then some shirtless man (potentially homeless, but we can't say for sure) who had been unicycling up & down our street all day (come to find out, this is a pretty regular routine) came over & offered to carry something up. We were kinda like, "Oh, no, you don't have to-- BUT OKAY, SURE." Seemed as though he had something to prove, so we handed him some hefty furniture & up he went! Both of the Caseys agree that we might never have finished if not for that man carrying up even just a few pieces of furniture. So, back to the grind we went!

Roundabout 4:15pm, I started getting nervous because I knew the Penske truck either had to be dropped off by 5pm or I'd have to find an overnight parking space for it (in my mind, that wasn't even an option). So we tried to get everything out of the truck & up the stairs fast as possible, but it just wasn't happening. Around 4:55pm, I said "to heck with it," & began brainstorming for parking ideas. Then, around 6pm...

We did it. I mean...We REALLY DID IT!
That truck was empty. 

It was like we all sat there & thought..."Surely this is a mirage?" But it was real life!

All that was left was the sweet, sweet sight of furniture pads.

As we sat peering into our new place dreaming about the Shake Shack we'd eat for dinner that night, I thought, "Surely I can't possibly be stuck with this truck tonight. Surely there's a way out of this." So I made a few Penske phone calls (one of those being a phone call to my dad...who was even more frantic about the overnight-Penske situation than I was, sorry dad!). And I decided to forego Shake Shack and take a gamble: I went to the Penske truck yard anyway! And right as we pulled up to the location, sweaty, weary & praying for this small-but-life-changing-miracle, the miracle of all miracles became reality:

The man was locking up literally the MOMENT we pulled in!

I couldn't make that up if I tried. It was as if God made us move in until the last possible minute so that our arrival to the Penske lot would be that much more of a blessing. AND IT WAS! I'm not kidding...I could have weeped there in that lot. Rachel & I attempted to express to the man what a miracle this was, but I don't think he could ever know! As I dropped those keys in his hand and stepped into a taxi cab home (we were too weak to walk;), that's when I finally knew it. We were moved in, and we were New Yorkers! (Okay, so maybe I forgot to give him the keys to the trunk, so I ended up having to go back the next day, but STILL. It was basically official.)

^^ Recognize this picture? Now does it hold a little more meaning (and possibly a few tears)? That was the taxi ride of glory! We went on to eat our first meal of the day (stupid. decision. I. know.) at 6:30pm, and 2 salads & Alekza's 1 shake shack burger later, we were sitting in our living room. 43rd & 8th ave. Brainstorming about our little place & enjoying the new sounds of our city. Our city.

...And basking in the fact that we'd never have to re-live this day again...

Because we decided we're never moving out. 

So thanks for listening & I hope you can now more fully enjoy sitting in your home at your moved-in-furniture. Now, go grab yourself a soda. You deserve it!

Heck, I deserve it too. Love,
Kelsey

Now for some pics:

yeah, yeah, go ahead & judge me...

Our teeny tiny & sweet little apartment full of so much love & God's faithfulness!
(That was the first night! It's much more organized and home-like now...
but we'll save that for another day, another blog post. ;)