Complicated

Complicated move yesterday. Is “complicated” the right word? We’ll get back to that.

The move was for a young mother and four children, which turned out to mean five children because, apparently, nobody thought the 2-year-old was worth mentioning. But I digress.

The unit was a three-story townhouse in a beautiful neighborhood in North Potomac (read: Rockville with pretensions). We had the perfect crew assembled when, at the last possible moment, a second move appeared.

This one involved a single father with no children. We generally don’t do singles, for reasons involving resources, volunteer burnout, and the fact that we occasionally like to go home. But there was a story (there’s always a story), and Stepping Stones asked us to make an exception.

As the family was moving out of the shelter, the mother took the children and left the state. The father needed some help building a home that would allow him to have visitation rights.

So, naturally, we divided the perfect crew.

The OTS volunteers on site were then treated to an active negotiation between Jimmy and me over who got whom. It was less “volunteer assignment” and more “NFL draft.” I believe I owe Jimmy a draft choice to be named later. I’m hoping it’s a sixth-rounder.

In any case, the big move was handled by Gus Costello, who brought his buddy Eliot, and those two were simply everywhere they were needed. Doug Free and Jim Gleason handled the transportation and more than their share of the lifting.

We also had the calm, steady presence of Mike Harper, who never complains, no matter how bemused he may be by the decisions being made around him.

Rounding out the team was all-star Joe Ferrante, whom we didn’t know was coming and who took the place of Joe “the Sherpa” Haynos, whom we thought was coming. I’d say that was a fair trade. Joe Ferrante may have disagreed, but he was already there.

Gus’s mom, Kelly Costello, came to do her share, and wrangle Gus and Eliot, along with Cathy Monge and Pat Succar. We also had Marie Burroughs and Meg Kinneberg, whom I had assigned to the other move, but apparently, they stopped listening to me some weeks ago. I may need to revise the organizational chart.

Huge shout-out to the real all-star of the move, Don Butcher, who, despite having undergone several shoulder surgeries, showed up, transported an SUV load of items, carried whatever he could, and then managed the cleanup at the end.

Impressive? It’s always the quiet ones.

The smaller move was honchoed by Jim Nalls, who led Phil Burroughs, Brian Hinkle, Kathy Nalls, and Dorea McMahon. The client pitched in, and they got it done.

Complicated?

Well, after Jim Gleason and Joe Ferrante had moved two dressers to the third floor, someone pointed out that dressers are considerably lighter if you take the drawers out first.

Exhaustion was the only thing that prevented them from smacking me in the head. Although I must point out that if Kevin Keegan had been there, he would have smacked me anyway. He wouldn’t have needed the drawers removed first.

Shout-out once again to the Toy and Book Committee. The kids dove into their gifts ferociously. The 11-year-old girl proudly showed us the two bracelets she made during the move. When someone explained that they were called “friendship” bracelets because she could give one to her best friend at school and they would both have beautiful bracelets that she had made, she was so happy I thought her head might explode.

Good stuff all around.