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Hey all: My move was on Dec. 13th, so it’s been just a little over two weeks since I became a Country Girl, staying in NY but moving from Westchester County to Columbia County..farm country in the Berkshires. I had planned on this move for the past 10 years or so, as it is an area that I have been involved with for over 45 years. My longest term, and closest friends, from college years, live here…one in NY, and the other just over the mountain in Connecticut. And I am living about 2 miles from my NY friend, and only 12 minutes from the mountain where I ski. Great biking trails, plus one can ride on the roads around here pretty easily without fear of getting mowed down by drivers, if you pick your route carefully….Only need to watch out for the chickens crossing the road…seriously…. I am in heaven…
The actual move was a lot less stressful than I thought it was going to be, but I think that, in part, is due to the weird coincidence that happened within the first 20 minutes or so.
I had hired a moving company from Long Island ( a good 60 miles from me in the opposite direction from my new home) as I needed them to first pick up some furniture that a Long Island relative was giving me. It costs less this way, as they stopped at her house to pick up the stuff, and just continued up to Tarrytown, then on up the 90 miles to Copake. So I knew they were Long Island residents, but didn’t dwell on it.
I asked the head mover, Nestor, to take some pictures off the wall in my kitchen, and when I walked past the kitchen a few minutes later he was just standing, staring at one picture on the wall. It was the subdivision plat map that I had framed years ago of my childhood home on Long Island. It gave my father’s name and the name of the main street that our little dead end street was off. Turns out that HE lives on the main street….just 4 houses from the house where my grandparents’ lived, at the corner of our street. He knew people that my siblings and I went to school with…. Totally wild to find this LI connection in the midst of my move.
Well, from that point on, he was my best buddy, and his crew couldn’t have been more fun to work with. Seriously…movers that were fun… When one of them saw me hobbling around the place when we were loading up, he asked if I was ok, then in an effort to help me, went to take the shopping cart that I was hauling from me, thinking it would help. I yelled “NO!, I need that to keep from falling over!” And we laughed…. The joke got to be “ If I fall over, just pick me up, ok?”
When we got up here, they were working on getting my treadmill into the room I have set up as my exercise room, and I stood behind them fretting that it wouldn’t clear the door and they would damage the newly painted walls, or the door frame. Back in Tarrytown, they needed to take the door off the hinge to get it out of the room. But one of the other guys took the lead on this, and cleared it without a bump, dent or smudge. Without thinking, I just patted him on the back telling him what an awesome job he did…. He turned and just grinned, and for the rest of the time they were bringing in the stuff, and asking me where things went, he would give me the biggest grin when bringing me something that he didn’t know where it went.
Once it was all over, and I was settling up with them, we were like best friends parting company. I told them to enjoy the ride, the LONG ride home and told them they should sing or something to past the time. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if they did..
Now, how did the MS do with the move? Really not badly at all…throughout all of this, I remembered to get my stretching in, and balance checks. I had spoken to my MS PT about how to get through the lack of time to do my usual routine, and he helped me enormously by streamlining my routine to just do things to Maintain, but not necessarily to improve/strengthen. I also kept a reality check on what I could expect to get through each day, and really gave myself “permission” to take lots of breaks.
I learned a lot through this experience. When I found this house, and saw that I was really going to make this big a move,( lived in Tarrytown for 30 years) I said to several of my friends very seriously that I would need A LOT of help. And I was worried that I couldn’t do the physical aspect of this much at all. This was a combination of my poor shoulders and my compromised legs...and an embarassing lack of confidence, I guess. But I found that I was much more capable that I ever thought I could be. It often looked pretty sketchy the way I needed to do something, but I could do it. Now, I definitely needed and used the help of several good friends and neighbors, but when there was something I knew I could handle, I found that saying ahead of time to whoever was there that what they would see me do next wasn’t going to look very pretty, and if it bothered them, then they needed to look away .. “Avert your eyes” was the chant. It took the stress away from me feeling as if I was being incapacitated from good intentions, and from my friends feeling an obligation to do everything for me. I really think we all learned from this about how and when to give and take help.
So enough of the deep stuff…. I love the house….one floor, nice open layout, attached garage. It is only 30 years old, and was maintained very well over the years. My contractor who orchestrated the painting and putting in the hardwood flooring said he found NOTHING wrong with the house. AND that exercise room of mine ( the third bedroom) is something that I never thought was possible. I have my treadmill, hand weights, Bowflex and trike on the trainer in the room, and nothing has to be put away to use something else. Nice comfortable space, and very inviting to me. It has made getting back into a better and more thorough exercise routine easy.
So, it is all over except for emptying more boxes…..and staying somewhat organized with where the things go. Wednesdays and Saturdays are for trips to the transfer station to haul away the cardboard….never want to pack another thing EVER or even see another cardboard box! But I have to say that I am very proud of myself with this move. And I know that I will be very happy here. I'm enjoying getting to know the area now as a resident instead of the "friend" of the past 45 years. It was the journey, but now it is the destination!
The actual move was a lot less stressful than I thought it was going to be, but I think that, in part, is due to the weird coincidence that happened within the first 20 minutes or so.
I had hired a moving company from Long Island ( a good 60 miles from me in the opposite direction from my new home) as I needed them to first pick up some furniture that a Long Island relative was giving me. It costs less this way, as they stopped at her house to pick up the stuff, and just continued up to Tarrytown, then on up the 90 miles to Copake. So I knew they were Long Island residents, but didn’t dwell on it.
I asked the head mover, Nestor, to take some pictures off the wall in my kitchen, and when I walked past the kitchen a few minutes later he was just standing, staring at one picture on the wall. It was the subdivision plat map that I had framed years ago of my childhood home on Long Island. It gave my father’s name and the name of the main street that our little dead end street was off. Turns out that HE lives on the main street….just 4 houses from the house where my grandparents’ lived, at the corner of our street. He knew people that my siblings and I went to school with…. Totally wild to find this LI connection in the midst of my move.
Well, from that point on, he was my best buddy, and his crew couldn’t have been more fun to work with. Seriously…movers that were fun… When one of them saw me hobbling around the place when we were loading up, he asked if I was ok, then in an effort to help me, went to take the shopping cart that I was hauling from me, thinking it would help. I yelled “NO!, I need that to keep from falling over!” And we laughed…. The joke got to be “ If I fall over, just pick me up, ok?”
When we got up here, they were working on getting my treadmill into the room I have set up as my exercise room, and I stood behind them fretting that it wouldn’t clear the door and they would damage the newly painted walls, or the door frame. Back in Tarrytown, they needed to take the door off the hinge to get it out of the room. But one of the other guys took the lead on this, and cleared it without a bump, dent or smudge. Without thinking, I just patted him on the back telling him what an awesome job he did…. He turned and just grinned, and for the rest of the time they were bringing in the stuff, and asking me where things went, he would give me the biggest grin when bringing me something that he didn’t know where it went.
Once it was all over, and I was settling up with them, we were like best friends parting company. I told them to enjoy the ride, the LONG ride home and told them they should sing or something to past the time. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if they did..
Now, how did the MS do with the move? Really not badly at all…throughout all of this, I remembered to get my stretching in, and balance checks. I had spoken to my MS PT about how to get through the lack of time to do my usual routine, and he helped me enormously by streamlining my routine to just do things to Maintain, but not necessarily to improve/strengthen. I also kept a reality check on what I could expect to get through each day, and really gave myself “permission” to take lots of breaks.
I learned a lot through this experience. When I found this house, and saw that I was really going to make this big a move,( lived in Tarrytown for 30 years) I said to several of my friends very seriously that I would need A LOT of help. And I was worried that I couldn’t do the physical aspect of this much at all. This was a combination of my poor shoulders and my compromised legs...and an embarassing lack of confidence, I guess. But I found that I was much more capable that I ever thought I could be. It often looked pretty sketchy the way I needed to do something, but I could do it. Now, I definitely needed and used the help of several good friends and neighbors, but when there was something I knew I could handle, I found that saying ahead of time to whoever was there that what they would see me do next wasn’t going to look very pretty, and if it bothered them, then they needed to look away .. “Avert your eyes” was the chant. It took the stress away from me feeling as if I was being incapacitated from good intentions, and from my friends feeling an obligation to do everything for me. I really think we all learned from this about how and when to give and take help.
So enough of the deep stuff…. I love the house….one floor, nice open layout, attached garage. It is only 30 years old, and was maintained very well over the years. My contractor who orchestrated the painting and putting in the hardwood flooring said he found NOTHING wrong with the house. AND that exercise room of mine ( the third bedroom) is something that I never thought was possible. I have my treadmill, hand weights, Bowflex and trike on the trainer in the room, and nothing has to be put away to use something else. Nice comfortable space, and very inviting to me. It has made getting back into a better and more thorough exercise routine easy.
So, it is all over except for emptying more boxes…..and staying somewhat organized with where the things go. Wednesdays and Saturdays are for trips to the transfer station to haul away the cardboard….never want to pack another thing EVER or even see another cardboard box! But I have to say that I am very proud of myself with this move. And I know that I will be very happy here. I'm enjoying getting to know the area now as a resident instead of the "friend" of the past 45 years. It was the journey, but now it is the destination!
I did not think we would ever own anything but there we are!
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