Act One, Scene Three: Memphis

After a hard day's work in the sweaty humidity, Elise, Nate and I went for a swim at my uncle's house, then enjoyed a nice dinner with my grandmother, cousins Josh and Natalie, their daughter Maddie, and my aunt and uncle. It was a really pleasant evening- Uncle Danny got out Dad-Dad's old Gibson guitar and Nate played for us. He's a professional musician in Nashville so he's exceptionally talented. Elise and Nate left that night for Memphis and I spent a quiet evening with my grandmother, discussing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I got up early the next morning and headed back to Memphis, going straight to Elise's mom's house, where an army of friends arrived to help.

This is the first friend, his name is Alex. And that is Charmander there in the passenger's seat. Alex found Elise's brother's stuffed Pokemon character (Elise's brother is also named Alex, incidentally), and our friend Alex geeked reeeealllly hard and decided he needed to go back to Montana with him. For those of you who don't know him, Elise and I know Alex from camp and he is from a suburb of Nashville but goes to school in Montana.

This is Elise's mom's dog Ginny- as in Ginny Weasley. This is significant because I have a four-legged roommate named Luna- as in Luna Lovegood. For those of you who don't understand the reference, please go pick up a J.K. Rowling novel stat.

That is Nate moving Elise's bed into the Budget truck. We literally just hurled her stuff back there, because we knew it was all going to be unloaded and re-loaded in Nashville the next day once my stuff got added. It was also HOT, and HUMID in Tennessee. I'm not kidding- summer has been abysmal.
This is Ellen, Elise's former roommate in Memphis and one of my favorite people in the world. She takes EXCELLENT photos and just started a photography degree at an art school in San Francisco. You should check out her work: http://whatsinaframe.blogspot.com. Ellen also helped a LOT with this move, so she also deserves a shout-out: thank yoouuuuu Elllluuuunnnnn....

Men hard at work. Elise being a minx.

Anyway, after Elise's mom's house we went to Elise's dad's house, where we proceeded to get almost nothing accomplished. I left that evening for Nashville to finish packing with Luna in tow. Elise and Nate drove the Budget truck over from Memphis to Nashville the next day, and there wasn't any room in the truck for Luna, so she had to come with me. She was an excellent traveling companion the whole trip.