March 10th – later that day…. Upon our return from lunch and a last stop at a favorite boutique, I could no longer put off the task of unhooking “the music system”. Mom loves her music and she’d invested in a very good Yamaha stereo system which was also connected to her TV to enhance any show with music. The entertainment center and TV (and for a few more days, the DVR from Comcast) would remain with the buyers of Mom’s house. Unable to move this piece of furniture away from the wall, armed with a flashlight and wedging my right hand and arm into the tight space, I get my first look at the back of the stereo. “Holy crap” I thought. More connectors than I’d expected but not one to back down from a challenge, I was the only one who could do it. So I sucked it up and began. The young whiz kid that hooked this up had thoughtfully zip-tied the cords however so I had to snip those (carefully). Saying a little prayer I began painstakingly disconnecting one connector at a time. And I found almost immediately that I first had to unhook the DVD/VHS player (more cords) and get it out of the way. Drawing diagrams on note pads (in a way that probably will only hold meaning for me and possibly ancient cave dwellers) I taped notes to cords and to the respective pieces of electronics; I’ll be the installer when we get to Michigan. Not my favorite part of the moving story thus far but I did it! (Insert sound of applause and slaps on the back here)
Mom, perhaps taking pity on me – or being thirsty – or with a compelling need to finish off the vanilla ice cream and 1/2 liter of root beer, suggests “how about a root beer float break?” To which I perk right up and say “yes and let’s do this every afternoon” to which she readily agrees.
After dinner, Mom can barely crawl off to bed (at 8 pm) and I’m not far behind. Two more days of packing before Hugo arrives to pack the POD. Tick tock.
