I have friends that I have known since I was one year old and Bill's college fraternity brothers are among his besties. We have also been fortunate to meet some amazing people along the way through former jobs, the internet, or by moving to a new neighborhood. People that I call "framily", the friends we consider family.
Bill and I both come from small families, so our friends make up a majority of the people we spend each holiday, weekend, and life's special (and not-so-special) moments with.
I was once again moved to tears by the generosity of our framily this past weekend, a long holiday weekend no less.
Bill's mom called him at 3:30p on Friday and announced that she was moving. Over the weekend. She is frail and her roommate is not in much better health, so we all knew where this was going. Bill was going to be doing all the packing and moving. The kids and I were all sick, so we were not much help nor would I have wanted them in that situation.
We didn't ask for help. Bill posted this on facebook: "Great. Now, on top of everything else I need to do before surgery, I have to move my mom out of her sh!thole apartment. Just great."
Oh yeah, did I mention that Bill is having serious surgery on June 6? Well, he is. Moving heavy stuff up and down stairs is just what the doctor DID NOT order. But, that didn't matter. She was moving and that was all there was to it. (ETA: After writing this and posting, Bill has decided to postpone his surgery until fall.)
Within 5 minutes of that post, the first offer of help came from our next door neighbor, Mike. He is the chef-manager with the Gamekeepers group. Go eat at one of his restaurants. His food is awesome, just like he is. He works 6 days a week, long hours.
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| Mike in the kitchen, where he always seems to be. John Kanuk, too. |
An hour later there were two more offers of help. The John's. Ross & Kanuk. Only problem was one of them forgot he had an anniversary celebration to attend; his own!
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| John & Jan sharing the kids first view of the ocean. Which they were able to see because of John & Jan. |
An hour after that comes an offer of a trailer and the help of the owner, Rick Stark who Bill has known since college. Back in the day, Rick probably attended a party or two at the apartment they'd be moving out of.
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| Rick giving a speech at Bill and Sam's 50th birthday party. Assist by Nolan. |
At that point, I was in tears.
Bill worked his a$$ off Saturday to get things packed and began moving on his own.
Sunday rolled around and the posse assembled. Plus Jan Ross. She knows the mother/moving dynamic all too well and did a great job trying to keep things moving along smoothly so the guys could get the heavy stuff out without interference from Bill's mom.
To not know the situation intimately, you can't imagine what a difficult job this way. Bill's mom doesn't part with things easily so you can imagine what was in her house after 30+ years of living there.
It was a difficult day in so many ways. Without Rick, Mike, Jan, and John I'm not sure where we'd stand today. There was no way Bill could have done this on his own, and once again our friends came to our rescue.
