Dear Readers,

I recently met a delightful young woman, Mollie Bond  at a writer’s conference and she kindly consented to share two of her moving stories with me.

By Mollie Bond

Chapter One: Victory over Weather

Boy, oh boy, our first move as a new couple! My (then) husband and I had rung the wedding bells a year beforehand, and were finally taking those cans off the back of our car, leaving them in the Pacific Northwest to start over in the Midwest. My brave husband wanted to start our new family close to family.

The plan sounded seamless: Husband drives moving van. Husband meets with family to move in furniture in Midwest. Husband rides the bus back to the Northwest. Husband and wife drive personal vehicles to Midwest. Husband and wife live happily ever after.

Seamless in the summer, but by the time October 2006 rolled around , our schedule didn’t go as planned My husband did go get the van. But as newlyweds, cheap was the name of the game so we decided to save a day’s rental and load up in 24 hours. He would start to pack the van in the morning, and then we would finish it off when I got home from work. Simple enough. Unfortunately, it rained all day and my husband decided to delay packing till that evening. He figured we could move it all in before bedtime.

Rain beat my jeep as I drove to our apartment after work, and I don’t mean a warm summer drizzle. I arrived with the rain still pounding. It bit us with frigid temperatures. Still, we put on brave faces determined to war against the rain. Out shoes slipped and slided as we hauled desks, televisions complete with taped-on pillows, and heavy pottery dishes. The oak Captains bed frame crushed my already achy muscles. By 2 a.m. the clock chimed out in our living room and it sounded nothing like wedding bells.

The next morning, a day after our planned departure, my husband went back to continue our packing, and I went back to work. The weather had changed and we realized the job on a bright sunny day didn’t seem so bad, as long as the mud holes were avoided. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the heavy furniture we dragged through the rain. We never did tell the apartments about how the deep gullies formed that night but took off fast the next day before we had to answer any questions.

So, the lesson I learned when moving is to plan in an extra day for weather. Packing time, drive time, or even unpacking time can get soggier than a cardboard box if weather decides to take a ride with you. And double-check the weatherman.

Mollie Bond is a Christian devotional writer and blogger whose articles have appeared in ChristianOnlineMagazine.com, andmolliebond.wordpress.com.  She recently earned her Masters in Business Administration, and has a heart for the people of Haiti.  She lives in Kansas with her cat, Charlie.