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Jerome’s Moving Company

(mid August events, as recalled in September)

My adventurous spirit cringed at my concession to living in a large complex called “Windsong,” but my practical nature was very content with my decision. The one-bedroom apartment was about 750 square feet – significantly larger than the 550 square feet I deserted in New Orleans. The living room and kitchen/dining room were on the first floor, with the bedroom and bathroom upstairs (Cool… no upstairs neighbors). It featured central a/c and heat, as opposed to a noisy wall unit. The location was about five minutes from Bonnabel (Is that perhaps too close to my students?). My only complaints were that (1) the one available two-story unit was at a lousy location in the complex, bordering a busy street, and (2) the brand new carpet added $20 to the monthly rent. Still, the $541 total was less than what I was going to have to pay for the New Orleans apartment.

The Jefferson Parish training ended on Thursday, and Friday was intended for teachers to decorate their classrooms. I sneaked away for a moment to bring a carload of items into my Kenner apartment, but most of the moving would take place Saturday – two days before the first day of school (Holy crap). The whole day was spent retrieving things from their temporary storage sites.

The numerous relocations were draining. Had I just spent the whole summer preparing to become a teacher, or a professional mover? Back in April I moved out of my Mountain View home and into my mom’s place, in preparation to rent out the condo. A month later, I moved from California to Louisiana. As I made new friends in the TGNO program, I helped four of them (Michelle, Leslie, Allison, and Sunday) move into their new residences. Then, within the last month, I had moved out of Nat & Joan’s house three times and moved back in twice.

By late evening I found myself again in an apartment full of hastily-packed boxes and no furniture, other than my bed. As tired as I was though, this time felt different. I felt an unusual security – a sense that I was finally going to be able to comfortably settle down this time. I guess the suburban familiarity that I had been trying to escape was now providing me this welcome comfort. Any lessons that might come from living amongst the urban underclass would have to wait. For now, I had my hands full with only one full day left until the launch of my new career.

I sat on the floor in front of my computer all day Sunday, figuring out how to keep three classes of students busy for the 90-minute periods they would spend with me. Forget planning for the full week, or setting goals for the quarter. I just focused on surviving the first day.