It would have been easy to feel sorry for myself, send the boys off to school each day and withdraw from the world in depression over the move. I will not deny there were not really times I thought about not even getting out of bed in the morning but I had people who depended on me, commitments I couldn't walk away from and a character flaw that always made me do the right thing.
Taking on the re-do for Gordon and Paula was much more than I had realized in the beginning. They were in their fifties, no children and had been neighbors of Barney's when he was growing up. I was instantly taken by their home which was in my favorite neighborhood a few blocks from the Country Club Plaza and built in the 20's. Plaster walls, wonderful woodwork and lots of character dazzled me into not noticing cracked plaster, walls covered in thirty years of cigarette smoke and decor that had gone untouched for thirty years. Gordon was as gruff as a bear, scared me a bit but Paula was as sweet as an angel.
My need for a contractor who knew how to patch plaster and do a lot of the other things that were totally out of my realm caused me to call a guy named Randy that I had met on the previous wallpaper job. Actually he had assisted me in getting paid for that job. The builder owed me about nine hundred dollars and would not pay. Randy had told me I would be lucky to get my money and when I didn't I called him for some advice. The next day Randy had my check and mumbled something about a gun and a threat but that was not something I needed to hear. So, not knowing anyone else I called Randy to help me with Gordon's place.
Gordon would call every morning at seven to see what time I was going to arrive and the answer needed to be before eight-thirty when he left for work. We would have a short meeting as to what was going to get done for the day - usually wishful thinking - and he and Paula would go off to work. I was lucky if Randy showed up by ten, if at all, with his usual bottle of Boone's farm in the truck. His helper, Jack, was always waiting for me in his little beat-up yellow VW when I got there.
Jack was in his mid-twenties, long blond hair, a vegetarian and a great worker. Thank heavens! Randy ended up being good at getting supplies Jack needed, finding someone to repair the leaded windows and removing them but not very good at actual work. Until the walls and ceilings were repaired there not not much I could do so Jack taught me all about plaster and how to repair it and to walk on stilts so I could help him. Paula came home for lunch everyday and took a liking to Jack, perhaps the son they never had. When he told her it was hard to go out to eat because of being vegetarian she started fixing us lunch everyday.
I rather liked that as it was always hard to go back to work after eating lunch out and she got pretty good at making vegetarian fare.
I have to admit that this was probably the most fun job I ever took on aside from all the things I learned from Jack. It was nice to learn the right way to do things instead of by trial and error. So much of what I learned would come in handy later. Paula taught me how to handle Gordon when he got all puffy about things not going fast enough. She told me to put both hands on my hips and just stare at him at which point he would all of a sudden apologize for being so gruff and impatient. Barney also started popping by for lunch several days a week and Paula enjoyed feeding him vegetarian food and watching his face.
While Jack painted I wallpapered the kitchen and two bathrooms. The last thing to do was 2200 square feet of carpet. The existing carpet had been there thirty years and was 100% wool. To replace it would cost about $69.00 a square foot which Gordon was willing to pay. We got into an argument over it because I could find no place where it was even worn so my suggestion was to have it cleaned at the cost of several hundreds of dollars and see what it looked like. It took a lot of convincing to get Gordon to agree but I won. When it was cleaned it actually looked better than what was currently on the market. One of those things that they just didn't make like they used to. I did suggest he could give me all the money I had saved him. He just put his hands on his hips and glared back at me.
Spending almost every week day at Gordon's and Paula's from eight-thirty in the morning until three in the afternoon for four weeks kept me busy and my spirits up. There was not a lot of time to fret about the move. When the job was finished Gordon invited Dennis, the boys and I to visit with them at their cabin on Table Rock Lake for a weekend. Dennis was not too excited about going to say the least. We finally came to an agreement on just spending a Saturday with them. It was a fun day for the boys and I, not so much for Dennis but he managed to behave decently. Who could not be impressed with his 1950's wooden Chris Craft Cruiser that we rode all over the lake in.
The last three weeks in Kansas City was a swirl of goodbye lunches and dinners with all the friends I had made. There were all my neighbors, the New Neighbors League and much to my surprise my decorating clients like Jim and Lisa and Gordon and Paula. It did seem strange because in all the years I had lived in Dallas their were not any goodbye affairs but only two years in Kansas City created at last one everyday.
The house did not sell as no houses were selling due to the interest rate. Ford came through and bought the house at the asking price so that we could go ahead with the purchase in New Jersey. Dennis came home for the week before the move. It was not a happy week. He was hot to trot to get stuff packed up before the people arrived that were going to pack us up. No, that made no sense to me either. He was after me to throw a lot of my stuff away - all my stuff from high school and college. I do remember one day when he was pulling out my stuff and pointing out there was no reason to keep it that I picked up one of those ceramic Christmas trees with the little lights on it and smashed it on the floor. Then I asked him what he was going to leave behind or throw away. That ended all conversation on what I needed to get rid of.
The packers arrived on Oct 30th. I made sure the garbage cans were empty and that kitchen things were in the kitchen, bathroom things in the bathroom plus the clothing we would need for four or five days was put aside. Then I left Dennis in charge and went off to have a very sad and final lunch with Barney. He assured me he would be in Philadelphia in six weeks for a seminar which sort of made us both feel better but saying goodbye that day was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
The truck arrived the next day to load up. We were pulling the race car with the our van but Dennis did not want nor was there room in the van for the fifty Mercury. At the last minute the company had to send out a truck and a trailer to haul the Mercury on. I guess Dennis thought the Mercury should have had a covered trailer and spent the afternoon arguing with the moving company. This was one of those times when I really wanted to run away and hide especially since the was Halloween Day. Two little boys arrived home from school in their costumes only to find out they were not going to get to go trick or treating with their friends that evening as Dennis had decided to leave as soon as the truck was loaded. Tears and begging did nothing to change Dennis's mind.
By the time the truck was loaded not only were the boys crying but I joined in when I had to say the last goodbyes to everyone in the neighborhood who came to see us off. What would the big deal be if we stayed the night in a motel there and let the boys trick or treat? There was no deadline on getting to New Jersey. There was just someone wanting to be nothing but mean.
Somehow it did not feel like a good omen to start off to a new home with Wes, Wally and I sitting in the back of the van crying as no one wanted to be anywhere near Dennis.
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