The Easy Move Gone Wrong!

When my husband first passed away in 2005, I waited a year, then put our dream home on the market. Once I decided to move, I realized what a monumental task I’d set for myself! 2006 was a sad, depressed selling market and I knew I had some upgrading to do so my house would sell. Would this be an easy move?  No.

I made lists of things that had to do, and one by one clicked through the list of tasks. The lower level of our on-ground walk-out bi-level needed painting. Our downstairs was the kid-friendly area, where we kept all the toys. That level had a second kitchen and a third bath, an office, and a laundry room. I was lucky enough to find a friend’s husband who’d been out of work and was willing to paint the area inexpensively. I found a 5-gallon paint container at a local contractor’s paint supply store (off-white) and bought it cheap! It was good quality paint but was not the exact color the original customer wanted. Their loss was my gain!

The painting went off without a hitch. Soon I had a fresh new cover on all the lower level walls.  

About a week after the fresh paint was dry on my walls, I had my two sons and a few of their friends over playing. They spent most of their time outside playing basketball in the driveway. They occasionally came in and spent time on the lower level.

Hackeysacks and similar items were very popular then. The boys would take the sacks and do all sorts of tricks with them. The flipped them onto their heels, knees, and elbows. The small bean-filled bags kept them very entertained.

Then Something Went Very Wrong!

I was upstairs painting bathrooms, cleaning out cabinets, and doing other work in preparation for the sale of the house.

Suddenly, I heard a loud “Boom!” I yelled downstairs to ask if anyone was hurt, they said they were all OK. I went about my business.

Later that evening, my two boys went downstairs, then came up breathing heavily, looking panicked and red-faced. “Mom!” My heart beat a bit faster. “Mom!” Uh oh! “What is it? What’s wrong?” They said there was a giant hole in the wall downstairs. “Mom, a giant rat must have worked his way into the house through the wall.” I bolted down the stairs, knife and frying pan in hand. The interior wall near the kitchen had a hole in it that was approximately 2 feet tall and a foot wide. The wallboard pushed inward. I knew a two-legged critter had done this! My nice easy move had just become a lot more complicated.

My sons told me that their friend had been alone inside the house, using the bathroom. They claimed he brought his hackeysacks with him and took a long time to return outside to play.

I was furious! I phoned the kid’s mother, explained the situation and asked that she find out if he’d done the damage to my walls. She vehemently denied he had any guilt. Our friendship ended. She claimed that my sons had done the damage and were using her son as a scapegoat. The nerve! Over the years, we had experienced other issues with this kid, and I was less than amused at this point.

Problem Solved

It took a few sheets of screening, a patch of drywall, spackle and paint to get that area looking like a flat wall again. I didn’t need the extra work. I found videos like this to be helpful in performing my patch.

The house sold within three months. We moved 8 miles away and across the state border, where we lived for the next six years.

Our Next Move

Fast forward, my sons are now 26 and 23. I talked with them recently, hashing over old stories. You may have guessed that one of them admitted to pushing the other into the wall. That push caused the dent, and the friend had nothing to do with the episode. My next move was an easy move and took us 1,000 miles from that area.  No drama was involved.

And in the End

I could fill a book about the things that happened just before and during that move. Moving is not only hectic for adults, try to remember that if you have young ones. Even if they don’t say so, they feel the pressure of the moving experience, and the anxiety may show itself in strange ways.

Your comments are always appreciated, especially the kind ones!