The Movers’ Zone – Moving One’s Memory

Written and Submitted by TImothy Brady

You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension of not only sight and sound, but of moving. Making a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of furniture, odd objects, and interesting people. That’s the signpost up ahead: your next stop……The Movers’ Zone!

As movers, we move more than things; we move peoples’ lives. The largest non-tangibles we transfer for folks across the country are their memories. Here’s a van operator’s entry into the Movers’ Zone when he moved an elderly couple from Chicago to a retirement community in the Arizona Desert.

The move began typically enough. A couple in their early eighties, Stan and Mary, had decided they’d had enough of the Chicago winters and were downsizing from their 3000-square-foot suburban home of nearly 50 years to a 1200-square-foot condo bordering a golf course in Mesa, Arizona.

As any mover or move coordinator can tell you, moving someone who’s lived in the same house for nearly a half a century is challenging, heart-warming, and tear-jerking, all in the same episode. The challenge is for the shippers to decide what to ship to their new home, what to give to family members, what to sell, to donate and to toss out. The tears are from leaving old friends and familiar places, along with finding items long forgotten that spark either a happy memory or a sad one.

And, of course, moving a couple who had been together for half a century to a new life required special talents of patience, understanding, and compassion, along with a good sense of humor.

Stan, who’d recently had a minor stroke, was getting around with a cane. But Mary was quite a bit more agile, so on moving day they’d already sorted through almost everything, with the exception of the attic. The moving crew brought the items down from the attic to a large table in the garage where husband and wife sorted through the array of boxes and memories.

During this time, Stan would lay something down and then forget where he’d placed it. Each time he’d slam his fist on the table and complain about losing his memory. In a way it was sad to see the negative effect of his stroke play its ugly little brain game with him, but as a tribute to his personality, Stan continually made it into a joke. He’d say, “Dang; last week it was just ‘where I laid the car keys,’ now it’s ‘where did I leave my entire brain?'”

As the day moved forward and the crew got all the items and cartons going to Arizona packed up and loaded into the van, the elderly man continued to misplace items. Finally the truck was loaded and it was time to sign the inventories and complete the paperwork. As each inventory page was signed, Stan scrutinized each carton and its contents. The van operator finally asked, “What are you looking for?” With a twinkle in his eye, Stan said, “I’ve obviously misplaced my memory; seem to have totally lost it. I’m just hoping it got packed in the truck so I’ll get it back when we get to Arizona.”

Fast forward to move-in day and Mesa, Arizona, with perfect weather for mid-November. The van operator and crew prepared the condo: floors covered, door jams protected, inventory pages laid out on the breakfast counter to be checked off. The items came off the truck in perfect condition, with Mary showing the movers where to place the different items and Stan checking off each number. The van operator was out in the van unstacking the tiers, removing pads, and sorting boxes according to size and where they were to go in the condo.

Every so often the van operator would check to see how things were going. Stan would look up from checking off the inventories and say to the van operator, “I haven’t seen it yet. I sure hope my memory is in that truck, or I’m just going to be a lost soul.”

Lunchtime. Some new neighbors brought everyone burgers, fries and drinks, and all stopped for a break. One of the crew went to tell the van operator food had arrived just as he pulled a carton off the top of the next tier to be unloaded. It was a small PBO carton about half the size of a book carton.

The van operator looked at the top of the box and got the biggest grin on his face as he read what was printed on it. He didn’t say a word; just tucked the carton under his arm and headed to the house. When he came in, the elderly shippers were sitting on the floor eating their lunch. The van operator stopped and looked directly at Stan sitting on the floor.

“Stan,” he said, “I’ve got great news.” And he turned the carton so Stan and Mary could read what was printed on top of the carton: “STAN’S MEMORY.”

“It did get shipped!” he exclaimed, as they read what was printed on the carton. The couple sat on the floor and laughed until they cried and then laughed again. Stan delightedly claimed he now had his memory back!

When you enter The Movers’ Zone, you never know what seemingly small event or item will have the greatest impact on the lives of your shippers or those of us who move them.

We now exit the Movers’ Zone – until next time.

Timothy Brady ©2015