In the months leading up to the move, we were excited. Our “must haves” were purchased and ready for their new home. Delivery dates were set for the couch and rug. Everything was going smoothly… Until the virus hit our shores. We all knew it was a matter of time, we just thought our government would be a bit more prepared, but that’s a topic for another day.
Three days before our move, the governor issued a curfew. We have already been working remotely so our grooves were down pat. I was on my way to his house to pick up our dog to make sure he was at my house on moving day. My sister graciously offered to watch him while we drove our belongings to and fro.
On my way to his house, I called ahead.
“Do you think we should go to IKEA and get the stuff we wanted?” I was a little nervous but laughed it off. “Just in case they close everything down, you know?
“No, I think we’ll be fine. I don’t think they’re going to close everything down just yet.”
“Okay, I hope you’re right.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t. Three days later, we moved into the apartment. Our eight pm curfew was advanced to 24-hrs. All non-essential retail was ordered to close.
On moving day, our rug was delivered from Ashley HomeStore. The next day, our couch was delivered, although the Raymour & Flanigan delivery men refused to try to get it through the door. Later on, we discovered that we were the last delivery before they shut down all warehouses and canceled all scheduled, future deliveries. Our theory is, they just wanted to finish their day and go home. Angry and frustrated, we were issued a refund and luckily Macy’s was still taking orders and delivering. Three days after that debacle, our new couch came and our living room was complete. Almost.
Remember when I asked Mike about IKEA? Yea, all stores were closed and the dresser we wanted was no longer in stock. It took us two weeks to finally order our dresser, end tables, and night stands. It took us 10hrs to put all of those items together. A great quarantine activity, by the way.
If you asked me a few months ago how we thought moving in together would be, we would’ve said amazing! We would have been out to eat at one of the restaurants on Bloomfield Ave, would have had a new drink at Pharmacie, and would have checked out a show at the Wellmont Theatre. I would’ve been joining local theatre programs, and Mike would’ve figured out the trains and shown me the ropes.
Instead, we’ve barely left our home, had to figure out how to coordinate both of our work from home schedules, we go for long walks as our fun activities out, watched countless movies and TV shows, and we’ve only just begun to explore the social distance alternatives that are starting to become available.
This isn’t the way we thought we’d be moving in together, learning how to live with each other. But what other way to learn about and learn to live with each other than being thrown into it during a 24/7 lock down?
Naturally, Taylor 💙
TAYLOR LYNN 