Meet Me In St. Louis

Sammy is moving to St. Louis to start the next chapter in her life. Her fiance, Connor, has moved into their apartment as he begins his second year of residency at WashU. Gabby and Sammy have shared an apartment for the last year, and as Dan returned to Milwaukee where he got a new job at Harley Davidson, he moved in with Gabby (&Sammy).

Sammy and I loaded the Uhaul all day Friday with the help of Dolly and Harry. Dolly is the orange dolly that we rented from Uhaul and Harry is the small, flat cart that we used to transport items up and down the elevator from the 14th floor. I found out that my daughters named the cart Harry because it only moves in "One Direction." Such witty young adults!

After starting the day with a hearty breakfast at Beans and Barley, the adventure began. Sammy and I used a lot of physics throughout the day as we maneuvered a couch, dresser and mattress. I did have one laughing gig as we were struggling with the floppy mattress, which Sammy didn't quite appreciate. We took all day to load the truck and Chris finished the day off by squeezing in the smaller items.

Throughout the day Sammy was checking on my well-being and stamina, which was fine. I did know that the next day when we needed to move everything into the St. Louis apartment would be a challenge. The next day, Chris drove the Uhaul, Sammy drove her car and I drove Chris's car to St. Louis. As we drove up to the apartment, Connor and his parents, Mary and David, were waiting at the curb ready to unload (Yahoo!) With the help of another friend from the apartment complex, the team made quick work of unloading and moving items into the apartment. I took the job of being the doorman, which was actually helpful.

We had a very needed local dinner at Mac's Local Eats and got a great night's sleep at Mary and David's house. On Sunday morning Chris and the Callahan men went golfing, so I headed to the apartment to do some more unpacking. Sammy and I were able to make some headway with emptying some boxes and moving furniture. That afternoon Chris and I drove his car back home and Sammy followed later that afternoon to Madison, where she stayed with Connor's aunt as she finishes her project at the Veteran's Museum.

The new chapter in Sammy's life will be wonderful. I am grateful that Connor's family is nearby since Sammy has always lived near her family. Living nearby our children and the Kailas family has allowed me to have a built in support system, and that will continue with one less team member. Thank you to all of you who support me every day no matter where you live.