It Feels Like Rain

Today's rain totally reminded me of moving to Columbus. Spencer and I moved in seven years ago this very weekend. It was Friday the thirteenth and we moved into a haunted apartment. Not a joke. But that's a story for another time.

Spencer and I sold both of our cars right before we left so we could drive together in the moving truck and not have to tow a car. We seriously drove that truck for a couple of days until we found something.

It was bright and sunny when we pulled into Columbus, but the weather around here is so fickle. By the time we got things straightened out with our apartment (which was supposed to be ready and waiting for us but was NOT) it started pouring rain. In Ohio, the weather can go from sunshine to a torrential down pour in seconds. Especially in the summer. It was POURING. Can I write that one more time? POURING! And the phone company who was supposed to have had our phone line ready and waiting for us did NOT (for like four days and we had no cell phones). Not that we had anyone to call for help anyway.

So all alone, Spencer and I moved tiny amounts of furniture in at a time. Every time the rain would let up a little, we'd go get something else from the truck. The two of us (in the rain) maneuvered each piece of furniture around the odd corners that apartment complexes always provide. And since we were trying to move as much as we could during those moments of lighter rain, we dumped everything haphazardly all over our living space.

We grocery shopped in our big moving truck (with half of our furniture still in it) when it was raining too hard to get anything accomplished. I still have this vivid picture of us wearing university t-shirts and sprinting through ankle deep puddles in the Big Bear parking lot. We stopped at White Castle for 45 cent sliders. (A fast food chain we had never heard of but quickly realized it should be avoided at all cost.)

It was such a strange and difficult day. Yet oddly, very fun. The memories of it make me so happy. I think Spencer would agree that the following summer was the best summer of our lives. I don't think I have ever been happier than I was then.