There were many doubts in my mind before I met Barney for lunch. Once the question that would he even remember who I was got easily answered then I began to worry about just what I was doing having lunch with him. Somehow having lunch with an old boy friend did not quite fit in my realm of the right thing to be doing. All that went away from the moment I saw him.
Living in one small room with Wes who was eight and Wally who four was not the ideal way to spent the summer. They did not have their bikes or Big Wheels to ride or their friends to play with, eating out had ceased to be fun after the first week and it was very difficult to keep them happy and positive about this move to a new place. Dennis had constant complaints about everything from the construction of the house to the long drive to work and to work itself. Staying positive in any way had become difficult. Having Barney as a friend and spending time with him laughing made the whole process easier.
Many hours spent picking out paint, wallpaper, flooring and all the other decisions that had to be made in building the house finally ended four weeks after we had moved into the motel. The house was done and ready for us to move into. Somehow I talked Dennis into us taking the boys to his Mother's house in Oklahoma for a week so that I could move into the house without little ones under my feet. That was a very wise decision considering the problems moving into the house.
It had been very nice to find out that when Ford moved us from Carrollton, Texas to Kansas City that they would send packers to box up all of our stuff. Previous moves we had done ourselves by taking a load in the car and putting it in it's new proper place. That always seemed to be an endless task and then there were those final things that you simply did not know what to do with. The moving company packers just swooped in, pushed you out of the way and boxed everything up then marked the boxes with what room they came out of. In theory the unpackers could simply unpack the kitchen box in the kitchen, living room in the living room, etc. Perhaps the theory was a good one since at the end of the day, everything was in its place and they took all the empty boxes away.
So much for theory! I didn't know that if you left trash in the kitchen garbage can or a Pathophysiology book on the washstand in the kitchen both would be placed in your new cupboards. Boys Room boxes were a problem since there were two of them and since there were no shelves for toys they just dumped them out in a pryamid in the middle of the floor. Was the living room in the old house the family room in the new house or the family room in the old house the unfinished basement in the new house? The washer and dryer in the old house was in the garage but in the new house it needed to go to the utility closet up two flights of stairs by the bedrooms.
Dennis had taken the day off for the event but he was busy having every thing in the garage put in its proper place. Naturally there were things stored in the old garage that he didn't want in the new one so Christmas decorations and my kiln plus all the ceramic supplies came in the house. I was surprised that he did not send the bicycles and Big Wheels in also. By lunchtime I was looking for a closet to hide in and even thinking about jumping off the back deck. Only problem was that the back deck was only eight feet off the ground which meant I would not die but only injure myself and never get the mess in the house straightened out.
Just when things were their darkest the neighbors started showing up to welcome us to our new home. The great thing was that some brought cookies and some brought wine. Dennis headed off to get lunch after I announced in the middle of a kitchen disaster, with no food in the house, that I was not cooking with six people in my way and the frying pan laying on top of some plates in a cupboard. While he was gone I enjoyed some cookies and wine straight out of the bottle as who knew where a glass was. By the time he got back I was all mellowed out from a half of a bottle of wine and could have cared less if they put the five week old kitchen trash under the sink. I also decided that we had moved into a neighborhood with pretty nice neighbors.
The next morning I think Dennis decided to go to work and let me try to straighten out the mess. As I started unloading all the cupboards in the kitchen onto the floor the gal from across the street came over. She reminded me of Mrs. Santa Claus when I had seen her the day before. Karen was short and round, had very curly hair, little wire-rimmed glasses and a smile that just drew you in. She looked at my dilemma and jumped right in to help. By lunchtime the kitchen was fully functional with everything put in its proper place. I had learned all about all the neighbors, all the fun things there were to do and that she would turn my name into some group called New Neighbors. She took me to her house for lunch, put a bunch of stuff in a crock pot to cook for us for dinner. After lunch she had me gather up school information for Wes and we went and enrolled him in school since she was a teacher and knew just what to do. From that day on there was never a morning without a phone call between the two of us checking on each other or making plans for the day.
Dennis's Mom called that evening to let us know that the slobbering English Bulldog had bitten a little girl who came to play with Wes and Wally on the cheek and it had required stitches. Wes assured us that no one was provoking the dog but with words from an eight year old who could know for sure. It was a good thing that Warner, Oklahoma did not have an abundance of lawyers to jump in and sue us but we did pay for all the medical bills just in case. The dog had never shown any aggression in the three years we had her so it was an interesting development.
Perhaps all the events that occurred during the move to Kansas City and into the house were really good character building times. Even though I did not get the house I wanted I did love the house - all five levels of it - that I got. The neighborhood was the perfect place for the kids and I with lots of friends and many fun things to do. Kansas City was the first place I ever lived where there was actually a change of seasons. Leaves turned beautiful colors in the fall, there was a lot of snow in the winter and the hot summers I was already used to. There would be many more, shall we say, interesting developments in the next few years but my coping skills had certainly kicked into high gear.
I had not talked to Barney since I left the restaurant last Thursday. When Thursday rolled around again I wondered if he would be there but I decided to take the chance and just go see. After the week I had moving into the house I needed to just get away from it all for awhile.
When I walked in the door the maitre d' said "Right this way, Miss Donna". Guess that was my first clue that Barney was indeed there.
He told me that he was not really sure that I would actually show up and he had called the motel to find out we were no longer there. Maybe it was more fun that we just surprised each other.
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