Feeling Blessed: Very Exciting March!

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Very Exciting March!

Finally spring had started and it felt like it. On March 21 a blizzard from DQ felt very appropriate.

We also had a chance to watch one of the twins baseball games. They are both quite good. Here is Colin already pitching.

But here is most exciting news. Where Helen and William lived in Nashville was not ideal. That townhouse was on the east side and way too small. No garage or storage to leave the 3 bicycles, no place for Helen to teach her online classes but on the dining room table. William's school was on the west side and the time to drive to school was of course when the traffic was the worse. Nashville traffic is not pretty, believe me.

It was time for a move. A place was found and on Monday March 24 we were on our way to help. Any excuse to see our children. As we used to we started very early when it was still dark. And it was still dry then but that changed later and we got quite some downpours.

A photo for Helen to see were we were. This is in the Tennessee welcome center.

The next few days were a bit strenuous for us older people but still fun and rewarding. Helen had to work (in the old place) and William had to go to school. James and I tried what we could to get the new place ready to move in.

First on the list was the delivery of Helen's pod with her stuff which had been in storage. Finally. Helen said it would be a little bit like Christmas to see the things. The driver who brought it was first class and very friendly too. It was fun watching him do it with such precision. We were lucky too with the empty spaces.

The new place has three floors and three bedrooms. Yesssss, a guestroom for us. Woodfloors throughout the house but the top bedroom (Helen's) is carpet. Sarah had lent us her carpet cleaner and it was excellent. Not a 5-minute job though at our age and doing it for the first time. Sarah had given me an excellent lesson though and all the things I needed.

James' teak wood chairs from his flat in Singen have now made it to Nashville. The loveseat should be in the pod. We had brought a little child's table just for now to have our lunch.

Oh, but the best: we got to help by picking William up from high school. From the new place it is so easy. My map said it would take me 8 minutes to get there. Helen reported recently that he can sleep 1 hour longer because of the move. So important for a teenager.

Of course in a situation like this one doesn't know how things would work. I had brought some twin beds for the guest room but had miscalculated. They did not fit but one of Helen's friends was very grateful to have them for the kids.

It took us a bit longer to sort things out, order mattresses, etc etc. So James and I staid in hotels. Yes, plural. The first I had booked online Helen did not approve off. Not in a good area and way to dangerous (what do we know). She really worried about us. It had been easy to drive to and a reasonable price. We had to promise to go there before darkness.

Well, it was ok. The next night we went to a different hotel. The same known chain and at the airport. Strangely enough I had booked it buy calling and it was even cheaper. They had plenty of rooms.

The following night we didn't pre-book but this time they didn't have that many rooms and we actually had to stay in a suit but for the same price. Could not book it at the same time for another night though because we were close to a weekend and a school team was booked.

As you can tell, we didn't worry and took it one day at a time. Yes, our card game in the hotel room.

You wonder about this picture? Once the pod was delivered and Helen was done working, she tried to open it. It had two locks on it and she had the keys but the locks were rusted shut. She consulted google about it. I got a text when I was picking up William from school to stop and buy rust remover or whatever would help. It took a while but she did it.

A celebratory moment of her and William opening the pod. We carried what we could into the garage and tried to sort it by importance to be needed first. But we did need a second day.

One of the two stairs between the floors.

So many decisions to make for Helen. She bought these chairs which we could pick up for her at one of the stores who carried them. She put them together and we had a meal at the island. They are very comfy. Good buy!

William got a mattress delivered. He likes it and is very happy.

He helped Helen pick out some flowers for me which I put on a window sill so not to forget. William took this photo which I thought was very clever.

Yup, the empty pod, left open so the neighbors knew it will be gone the next day since it took two days (the parking!).

On Thursday James and I thought we had done what we could do to help. Helen had to work that day in the evening so we would not see her anyway. We had asked whether Ben, William's dad, would like to meet for dinner in Mt. Juliet. This is one of William's favorite places because the boy loves sushi.

We had seen Ben earlier because he too helped Helen move some things on his truck bed from the old to the new place. It was nice though to have time talking at dinner.

To get to the dinner place was a perfect example of Nashville traffic. It took us 3x as long as it should have. The online map would send us the fastest way but still red lines here and there on the map. =

This is my curry. Oh was it good.

And since we had not pre-booked a hotel room and we would not see Helen anyway since we had planned on driving home on Friday, we decided to drive on after dinner and see how far we could go. We made it all the way through Knoxville which was so great. We had pulled over and looked on the internet for a hotel and found something easily enough. We were tired and fell into bed right away.

We woke up early and didn't even bother to shower. We were eager to get on the road. We were before the (included) breakfast time but at check-out we were offered a coffee for on-the-road. Nice!

Luckily it got light soon and I asked James to take some photos of the sunup.