first (k)new thing

I know moving is hard.  I don't like it.  I recently decided to make the move across the country to Maine from Colorado.  Like predicted it was hard and I didn't like the process.  Even though it seemed I had all my ducks in a row weeks leading up to the actual move, some things just don't seem to go as planned.  Anytime you have to rely on someone else to do something for you the margin of error increases.

Being I do not own my own moving truck, shipping company, gas station, ferry (I moved to an island) or anything else I needed to move my things cross country my margine of error was increasing exponentially.

Surprisingly, the move itself went well.  Yes, my things arrived late and my phone took almost two weeks to turn on and my internet took even longer.  The margin of error I seemed to escape with the move it self,  all came to a head when it came to the disaster that was my rental property.

I could spend hours describing the disgusting conditions my poor escuse for a landlord expected me to move into. The dirt and the grime that existed on every inch of floors and walls and the mounds of the personal possessions he expected me to sort through (down to old tooth brushes and stacks of magazines ) and the spiders and their webs that had already taken up residence in the house.  I could rehash the conversation I had with him over the phone when I brought it to his attention that the house was a mess and where he insulted me multiple times and told me "my expectations were too high"  or that "I should suck it up" but I'd rather spend my time on what came after.

Frustrated and upset I approached my principal (I moved to Maine to teach) and told him without a suitable rental I would be returning home to Colorado. He said he would take care of it because making sure his teachers were happy was his highest priority.  I was a little unsure of the meaning of his response.

What happened next was nothing short of incredible.

The next day several faculty members including my principal came to my rental property mops and cleaning supplies in hand.  They scrubbed, they mopped, they painted.  They moved out the old and dusty old furniture and boxed up the personal belongings that engulfed the house and in a matter of hours took the house from being a disaster to ready to move in.  I met most of my colleagues for the first time this day and they were all just happy to help.

I had never before experienced the generosity or goodwill from a group of people like I had on this day never mind it was a  group of people I had never met.

 I was sure I knew how this was going to turn out but instead it renewed my faith in people and community.  Forever in debt to this experience.