Back in Brisbane

Yesterday, got back from a week and a half of a rushed trip to Seattle.

A few months ago, my paternal grandfather had fallen and broken his leg. Although he's essentially recovered, I think the experience spooked him: he was outside watering the garden, and lay there for most of the day before his neighbor heard him calling for help. So, he decided to sell off the house, and move into an assisted-living-type place.

His four kids (my dad, my aunt, two uncles) helped him gather up the things that he wanted to take with to his new place, and then everyone gathered to go through the things that he hadn't already assigned to a specific person.

Got in on a Wednesday (I think; it's already a blur...). The first half of the trip was enjoyable: hung out with my folks; hung out with my brother, his wife, and their kid; and my brother and I hung out with our sister (took the train up from Oregon).

Sunday (of a week ago) was also pleasant: Gathered at my Grandpa's house, and there was a lot of reminiscing and family stories shared. According to my cousin's wife, who also attended (some spouses attended, some didn't), our family is unusual in the gracious, cooperative way that we divided the family heirlooms. Apparently, many families are cut-throat and argumentative. Ours, in contrast, was pretty darned considerate and co-operative: If multiple parties were interested in an item, those parties tried to determine which person **most** wanted the item (for sentimental reasons, not the $$$ value), and deferred to that person.

Afterwards, my two cousins on that side, plus the younger cousin's wife and child, hung aroud the back yard for several hours and chatted. Really good conversation; glad I was able to catch up with them.

Monday through Wednesday was spent collecting my items throughout the house, ''staging'' them in the living room, and wrapping and packing them to make them safe for crating. Worked from 8am or 10am (depending on the day) to 8pm or 10pm.

To recap, I chose the items I'd be taking on Sunday. I'd originally hoped to do the wrapping/packing on Monday; build the crates on Tuesday; and deliver the packed crates to the docks on Wednesday. Instead, I did the wrapping Monday through Wednesday afternoon, and did the crating (with the gracious help of my brother, as mom finished the wrapping and packing) in a marathon session from Wednesday afternoon to the Thursday-morning freight pickup.

It all turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. I'd innocently figured that the truck that would be used for the pick up would be the same size that I'd once driven when I worked for an antique furniture crating company. Instead, it was a 26(?)-foot monster that couldn't back down my grandfather's gravel driveway (the cement slab outside his garage door is behind the house). The gravel driveway prevented the guy from using is pallet jack to drag the crates out to the street. And three of the crates (a huge, antique sofa; the matching overstuffed chair; and a crate full of metal tools) were much too heavy to lift by hand. So, the whole transaction was aborted.

I was **very** upset and dissapointed with this failure: after having spent so much time doing the packing and crating -- including pulling an all-nighter (at that point, no sleep for 26 hrs., and probably inadequate food given my activity levels) -- I was at a breaking point. Plus, the associated emotional load of my grandpa's poor health, and the symbolism of packing up his belongings from the house he'd lived in since long before I was born (it's the house my dad and his sibs grew up in).

So: I now need to arrange shipping for three mega-heavy crates that are stuck behind the house -- including how to get them around to the front. (I have two ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.)


Because the packing and crating took **waaaay** longer than I had hoped, I wasn't able to accomplish most of the things on my ''To Do When Back in Seattle'' list: didn't visit my maternal grandparents; didn't visit the graves of my deceased sister and grandmothers; didn't load up on cans of root beer to bring back to Australia; didn't get donuts from Family Donut in the Northgate area of Seattle; and had to blow off two sets of friends who I'd arranged dinner dates with.

On the plus side, I did manage to: spend time with my folks; play a few games of Axis & Allies (a computerized military strategy game) with my dad; spend time with my sibs (and a sister-in-law, and a nephew); spend time with my various aunts, uncles, cousins, and spouses and kids; visit with **one** friend, who I'd scheduled prior to the crunch period; get a pizza from A Pizza Mart in the U-District; and bring back a few cans of Dr Pepper (not available in Aussie-land). Plus -- and perhaps most important -- visit my paternal grandfather on multiple occassions.

But still, glad to be back.


--GG