An Overwhelming Load

Waking up from our first night camping in our new home, we set out in search of what will prove to be our savior, our mecca, our shining beacon of light also known as Super Target. Seeing as the closest one to those of you in Michigan is in Indiana, you may not understand what Super Target is or why I sing its praises. Unfortunate. Why wouldn't they have Super Target in Michigan? I'm imagining little border patrol men armed with bazookas and shopping carts and big red Ms on their chests, defending the land of Meijer...

Not that I'm knocking Meijer. I was worried I would miss the convenience of one-stop shopping and low, low prices, but we were saved by the big red shiny Super Target. We already knew how amazing Target was. Take that and add to it amazing produce and groceries and their organic products from Archer Farms. (If you haven't tried the blue corn chips with flaxseed, you're really missing out). It's fun for everyone!

Proud of ourselves for finding our way there (with a map, NOT a GPS system, thank you very much!), we loaded up on some necessities and headed back to the house for some major cleaning. Not that the place was entirely filthy, but there were certainly some overlooked spots (the fridge is actually white! who knew?!?), almost all of which we cleaned with a bottle of vinegar left behind by the previous tenants. If you don't know the cleaning power of plain 'ol white distilled vinegar, let me tell you - that stuff works. Yes, I see a blog devoted to vinegar coming very soon...

Mom and Dennis arrived around 3:00pm with the bulk of our stuff in the truck and as we ate lunch on the back deck we pretended not to be completely exasperated by the task of unloading what took us four hours to load. Yet another downfall of not hiring movers and moving to a state where you know exactly two people - one of whom was back home visiting in Michigan, the other busy finishing her last week of PA school. Nicole emailed a desperate plea to her soon-to-be-classmates, whom she's never met, hoping to appeal to their good graces and desire to come meet some people who are also new to the area. She got a few bites, but not many and hardly any were definite.

I had been introduced via email to a friend of a friend of a friend who lives in Durham, Steve, also a Michigan transplant, who I regularly tried to bribe on facebook with promises of Oberon beer and Faygo Rock N Rye to come help us move. We had plenty of facebook messages going back and forth in which he assured he would come help, but you never really know with people you've never met. Luckily, Steve turned out to be a SAINT. Not only did he get out of work early and call me on his way over to see if we needed anything, he helped us unload for two straight hours and even brought us a "welcome to Durham" bag full of local products like apple butter, wine, and pickled okra. I happily handed over the Oberon and Faygo!

And not only did we have Steve, but five others from Nicole's class showed up to help! Together we unloaded boxes and furniture, amidst conversations centering around "where are you from?" and "when did you get here?" We were exhausted, yes. We were soaked with sweat, yes. But we were carried on by the generosity and camaraderie of those around us whom we'd only just met.

"Welcome to Durham", indeed!