Act One, Scene Four: Nashville

So while Nate and Elise made their way from Memphis to Nashville, my childhood friend Emily and I moved all of my furniture and suitcases into the garage and set up box fans. It was (surprise, surprise) HOT in Nashville, but just as we got ready to load the truck the skies opened up and it STORMED. I'm not talking just a little rain, but a torrential downpour. We had to wait it out (I ended up falling asleep for a bit) and then we got started unloading Elise's stuff into the garage with my stuff. Emily's parents Bill and Laura came over (I've known them since I was five) and it's a good thing they did because it turns out her dad is a genius at packing. I'm not kidding. It took him just over an hour directing all of us to get everything in the truck, with room to spare. It was incredible. We then feasted on pizza afterwards and rested up for the journey the next day.

This is the view of the truck completely packed. Incredible, isn't it?
Just a shot of some of the stuff in the back and the genius of Papa Rod.
These are Emily's parents, who deserve a HUGE thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Emily is not pictured, but she deserves a thank you as well.

Digression: At kindergarten orientation, I walked into Ms. McCullough's classroom where my new teacher promptly took a picture of me for the bulletin board. There were little pieces of tape on the floor to mark where it was appropriate to sit, and there was an empty piece next to a little girl who was picking puff paint off of her dress. Ms. McCullough directed me to go sit next to her, so I sat down and watched the little girl. She eventually looked up at me, saw me watching her, and asked if I wanted to help. I said, "Yes," and we continued the job. After a few minutes, she stopped, looked at me, and said, "Will you be my friend?" I said, "Yes," again, and Emily and I have been friends ever since.

So, remember that storm I talked about? Also remember how we weren't supposed to drive the truck with car tow backwards? Well, that evening before pizza we were trying to store the truck on the street facing the right direction and as we got to a huge turn around point, a tree fell in the road. The view from above is what we saw from a distance.

This is what it looked like up close. We had to take the car tow off the back of the truck, CAREFULLY back the truck into a large driveway, turn it around, and re-attach the car tow. The car tow is tricky because there are these little wires that hook the lights off the back of the car tow up to the truck, and they do not enjoy being attached and re-attached. Anyway, we finally got going the way we needed to be, and rested for the evening. The next day Elise's dad drove Elise's car in from Memphis, and we put Yvonne (Elise's car) on the car tow. Lemme tell you, THAT was sweaty, confusing work. I don't recommend it. We ended up delaying departure for an hour. However, we made it out of Nashville that day, and out of the state, stopping in Virginia for the night.

INTERMISSION