muther-trucker

You've seen the U-HAUL trucks on the road advertising $19.95 per day - an UNBELIEVABLE DEAL right???  Exactly.  We were able to pick up the truck in Chatham and drop it off down in Manahawkin so that we could bring some temporary furniture until our new furniture arrives, and we purchased a new grill that we needed to transport, so it seemed like a good idea.... until Tommy was not available to help us load it into the truck.  After picking up the beast myself in a pouring rainstorm, I spied 2 able-bodied college boys across the street about to head somewhere in a jeep and thankfully they were not in a mad rush and willing to lend a hand.  Will and Gio got the job done and I was so appreciative that I am putting it in writing - "I will help them both find jobs when they graduate!"  I should mention that thanks to our neighbor Brad, Tommy got a foot in the door for an interview and was just offered a job at Ernst & Young after spending exactly 2 years at Mack-Cali, so he is on his way into the big apple and the beginning of a new chapter!  ok, back to the U-Haul - we trucked on down to LBI and I was a slow-muther-trucker because it was like driving a house with everything bouncing around in it or so it seemed.  Jonathan rode in the truck with me, and Tom following with Juli.  Jonny was very amused and even pleasant, but of course halfway down announced his state of hunger so we found ourselves in the fast-food drive thru where I OF COURSE had to announce to the teenager on the microphone that I was a muther-trucker, the joke that keeps on joking... :) yes, I was beating it to death. When I told Juli I did that, she was very happy she was not driving with me.  Express lane to the end of the story - with the help of the plumber and our new neighbor, we unloaded the truck and spent our first weekend in our new home on the bay, and today, with her driver's license only 2 weeks old, the junior muther-trucker drove the big beast to drop it off!  (That's my girl)  Grand total for the U-Haul upon return - a mere $199.69. That's when I realized that the advertisement simply had the decimal point in the wrong place.  

 

baby on board...alone!

Almost a year ago, my first blog posting was inspired by my daughter getting her driver's permit.  Time flies.... today was the big day - her 17th birthday and road test!  Let's just say that Tom and I were prepared to head somewhere far away for the weekend if she didn't pass.  Her instructor arrived 10 minutes late for her refresher lesson this morning and she was in a spin, ready to blame his lateness if she didn't pass the test.  He was certainly a character - Coach Kennedy - a basketball coach from somewhere in Newark whose diction was worse than Tommy's.  But I guess he coached her well enough on the road because she passed the test and when I got the news, I realized that I may have been holding my breath.  She was bursting out of her own skin with excitement when she got home. Then came the moment when she drove out of the driveway on her own, of course with me there with my camera, and after the jeep headed down the road on this beautiful sunny day, I stood there and cried.  Happy for her and her new found freedom, but for me, it seemed like it was just a few months ago that I brought her home from the hospital and invited everyone including the mailman in to have a look at my perfect baby girl!  Lesson learned - don't blink!