April 04th, 2018

So, Joy and Bob finally were able to close on their new condo.  This is the view from their great room.  Not bad eh? I am so very happy for them :)

​Because I at least try to be a good sister, I offered to help them move and yesterday I was taken up on my offer.  I didn't just do this out of the goodness of my heart. Moving is something that my family is particularly good at.  It's typed right on our DNA.  We can pack and unpack and construct furniture and settling in like nobody's business.  Perhaps we were Gypsy's long ago.  I know that in my mother's family there is a long history of sea farers and while my dad's family were all farmers, over the generations they kept moving west as areas became too populated for their liking. 

​And then, of course, there were the brave souls, a Very long time ago, in fact all the way back to  the 1600's in my mother's family and the 1700's in my dad's family, that somebody thought it was a darned good idea to pack up everything they owned, get on a big wooden ship and sail for the new world.  Imagine that.  That takes bravery and courage the likes of which I have a hard time wrapping my brain around.  Those ships has a tendency to sink you know.  And the voyage took a long time, often an unpleasantly long time.  Old sailing vessels were nothing like modern cruise ships. And then of course, once they arrived, it's not like there was much here.  No Home Depot, no grocery store....what am I saying?  There were very few homes even!  If you could build a house, there you go. Home sweet home.  If you couldn't build a home, sucks to be you.  These are the people who helped to get this country underway in the first place.  On the other hand, they didn't own much so there was very little unpacking to do.

​Comparatively, this was an easy task.  Helping to haul boxes and bags of things up an elevator to their unit and finding a place for the contents.  Assisting with the hanging a zillion or so strings of crystals in a chandelier. Being a part of the construction of a patio table. Lending my opinion to the determination of  the proper placement of a piano. Putting clean linens on a bed.  Doing the things that help to make an address, a home.  It was truly my pleasure.

​One of the biggest surprises and smiles came to me from working side by side on a project with my sister again.  We shop together sometimes, we hike together, go on photo safari's together and we always do that well. But this was a little different and it's been a long time since we've had to do a move together.  It was as if no time had passed at all. We meshed just like we always did and that was a lovely thing to learn.

​Eon's ago, when we were kids, still living at home, we shared a room.  Although people tell us that we look like twins (we disagree, vehemently) and even our own mother couldn't discern between our voices, our personalities, our likes and dislikes were always very different.  Joy was always a far more girly girl.  Pink and flowers and ruffles and pretty things.  I was more practical and simple and, I guess, nerdy is the best word for it.  So sharing  a room was, well, lets say it was interesting.  By the time we moved to Connecticut, our personalities were strong enough that neither of us wanted to compromise on our specific tastes. Our dad decided that we should find a way to combine our tastes and frankly, he didn't much care how the room looked. So, Joy got a bedspread (back when people used bedspreads) that was predictably pink and yellow and flowery with ruffles at the bottom.  The one I wanted was just plain grey. I think there may have been a grey on grey pattern involved but I was overruled by the people paying for it and ended up with some plaid thing that I honestly didn't like. The walls were white, but we painted our closet doors yellow and alternated yellow and white curtain panels.  I seem to remember little fuzzy area rugs that were pink maybe? I could be wrong about that.  The point it that while the results were terrible, honestly the room looked awful, but we worked on it together with no squabbling. We were a team.

​We used to sing together while doing the dishes at night.  We never had to instruct the other as to who had the harmony and who had the melody, we just knew, somehow.  There was no big discussion about how to do any of the chores we did regularly, or who would do what, we just did it, together, as a unity.  If she grabbed the broom, I grabbed the dust pan.  If I started washing, she picked up the dishtowel.  

​Now here it is far too many years later, and it still works. This silent sister-communication thing that we have.  She stood on the ladder, I handed her the crystal strands for placement.  We didn't assign tasks, we just did it.  When the washer was done, I went in and transferred the bedding to the dryer, she didn't ask me to do it, it just needed to be done and I was already nearby.   When Bob needed specific nuts and washers, Joy already had them lined up in her hand for him. When Joy needed them, I did the same for her. It was like being a surgical assistant.  And when it was time for a break, we both reached for the chocolate. Not even a question.

​We come from a long line of hard workers. Not a slacker amoung us.  If something needs doing, we do it.  It doesn't matter if it's an icky task or an easy one.  Nobody asks or expects praise for a job well done, but everyone always makes it a point to thank anyone involved.  There is no keeping score, no waiting for someone to tell us what to do, we just jump in.  That's who we are, it's what we do.  And we don't stop until it's done.

​We do however keep a running conversation going the entire time, usually completely unrelated to the task at hand.  We are a chatty bunch too.   So there you go.  We are descendants from a very long line of people who were courageous risk takers, travelers,  hard workers, lovers of chocolate (and frankly anything sweet), who talk a lot, are psychically connected (apparently) and who sing while we work.  Oh my gosh, we could have been in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!  We could been hired out for the job but it's just too many words for one advertising sign.

​Congrats on your new home, Joy and Bob!  Thanks for allowing me to be a part of it.