6:00 a.m. I woke up and got my stuff ready for work. It’s Friday and it’s the big day. I asked my girlfriend to spend the day packing. I kiss her goodbye and I drove to work.
7:00 a.m. I arrived at work. My partner and I get together some food and some supplies and we leave out around 9:00 a.m. to do outreach. Travel around to the various spots and encampments. We visit people we give them food. I’m working towards developing a process so that we can help people get IDs, birth certificates, and social security cards. There’s so much that a person needs when they are unhoused. It also seems that it’s really easy for people to lose the few things that they have.
3:00 p.m. It’s been stressful all day. I’ve been worrying about this big move for so long and now the day is here. I leave work and I go to the U-Haul place to pick up the 15-ft truck. When the U-Haul clerk asked me to give an emergency contact I used my girlfriend. Come to find out she has an old $94 balance. I’m really frustrated by this and I call her, and she ends up settling the balance. I was shocked that U-Haul would hold somebody else’s past balance against me renting a truck. I told them as much, but luckily we’re able to remedy the situation. The woman that was working at the U-Haul, a fiery lady with red hair, gave me an extra 30 miles on the rental which was really nice.
4:15 p.m. I arrived at my girlfriend’s apartment with the U-Haul truck. I backed the truck up to the front door of her building. I go upstairs and it’s just her and I. We’re waiting for her ex and my friend Nick to show up. I get a text from Nick that he’s at the apartment complex. I drove out to get him at the entrance. It’s good to see Nick and his dog Riggy. There’s no words I can describe how grateful I am for the help. Nick and Riggy drive back with me and my girlfriend’s Honda Pilot to her apartment building. The apartment complex is huge, and it’s hard to find each building. When we get upstairs my girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend is there with my girlfriend’s son.
5:00 p.m. The plan is for the three guys to get the big stuff first, all the big furniture. We work together putting all the furniture in the moving truck. It takes us about an hour and around
6:30 I drive the big truck with my girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, my friend Nick and his dog drive their car over to my girlfriend’s new apartment in Lowell.
7:30 p.m. we’ve moved everything out of the truck into my girlfriend’s apartment. With the furniture in the few bags and boxes I moved over the last two weeks the place isalready pretty full. I know that tonight is going to be a long night. My friend Nick leaves, and My girlfriend’s boyfriend and I drive back to my girlfriend’s apartment. I’m happy to finally have gotten to spend time with my girlfriend’s son’s father. He is an integral part of her life, and he is a good father to her son.
8:00 p.m. We arrive back at my girlfriend’s apartment that she’s moving out of. My girlfriend’s ex stays for another hour or so, and then he takes his son home. My girlfriend and I spent the next 7 hours moving, packing, and cleaning out her apartment. I will not sleep until around 12:00 p.m. the next day. So this story will carry right into the next day. I did the majority of the heavy lifting. I’m loading bag after bag up and down the stairs. The Adderall helps me work through the night. There’s way too much stuff. But it is what she wants and I do care about her deeply, so I’m willing to move all of the stuff. I know she will regret it later.