All Hands On Deck
12/04/19 06:41
Things are moving along at Ev's new place. They delivered his mattress yesterday and despite a few kinks in the delivery process they hauled the mattress up to his place and we signed off on the delivery. He still needs a lot of things, furniture mostly, but we can take care of that in good time.
Now that he has a bed he can at least sleep there and that is precisely what he did last evening. It was weird (in a good way) not having him sleep at home. After we got the bedding thing squared away, we enjoyed a celebratory lunch at Lexie's where I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate milk shake while Nancy and Evan had burgers. It's important to note here that not all burgers are beef.
Service seemed slower than we had remembered from our previous visit when it was much busier. It's not supposed to work that way, is it?
Evan had a bit of angst about the whole mattress delivery thing and while he was not articulating that exactly it played out in such a way that he ultimately preferred that we have a hand in the process. It all worked out and the only problem after the fact was that the mattress cover that Nancy had previously purchased was maybe a little too big? How does that happen? A queen is a queen? Is it not? I wondered too about the blanket that Evan decided to bring over to his new place.
It was more of a throw and didn't even come close to covering the expanse of his new queen sized mattress. He did have a queen sized cover sheet so that, in addition to the blanket, would probably be fine. The good news was that his new place has terrific temperature controls so he'll not lose sleep for lack of a proper cover. My parting advice to him was to open the windows from time to time and enjoy the nice cross breezes. He hiked the window a bit and put his hand against the open window and a smile crossed his face.
We got rid of all the empty boxes in his apartment and that seemed to make the place seem "spacious" once again. It is not an overly spacious apartment to begin with so staying organized will be important. Knowing what we know about how he keeps his room clean or not here at home I would say he has his work cut out for him. Nancy helped him empty the dishwasher and the two of them put away groceries that we had purchased at the local grocery store.
If I had to guess I would have said that Evan might have preferred living somewhere where there was less activity during the daylight hours. Why are all these people milling about? Some seemed older and were likely well retired but others looked like they should be working a daytime job or something. Evan seems disinclined to engage them one way or another so I expect he'll be keeping to himself as best he can. Sadly, he will not be the guy whose door you knock on looking for a cup of sugar in a pinch.
At one point when we were half in and half out of the 4th floor elevator with plans to take it down to the first floor we heard a woman approaching. She raised her voice ever so slightly asking. pleading, that we hold the door for her. I was carrying cardboard boxes and Evan was looking disinterested in having anyone else come aboard so we punched the "down" button and hoped against hope that her hand would not slip through the elevator door opening at the last minute.
It didn't and down we went. It was probably a good thing that we never actually laid eyes on her. Or, her eyes on us for that matter.
I try to set a good example when and where I can and that was not one of my finer moments. We should have made room for her and I don't think we had a good reason not to. The relief that Evan was feeling was palpable and I think I caught a mischevious look in his eye as we exchanged glances while descending to the ground floor. Or maybe it was just a look of relief that I mistook for something else. He has the option of taking the stairs but has seemed disinclined to do so so I'm guessing he'll take his chances in the elevator for better or worse.
Nancy bought Evan one of those 'My Pillows" as a house warming gift and something he definitely needed to go along with his new queen sized bed. It struck me as a bit lumpy but I kept my mouth shut. If he thought it was too lumpy he didn't say as much. That's our boy.
Did I mention that we bought his bed frame on Amazon? I only went to Amazon after looking around in various stores and not seeing anything that I thought might work when it came to style, size, and price. Once we had it all unpacked and laid out on the floor in order to assemble it we marveled at the solid construction and contemporary look. Evan and I worked hand in hand to follow the instructions until all the pieces were assembled and secured tightly with the allen wrench included with the materials.
I told Nancy after the fact that putting the frame together with Evan felt oddly synchronous. I don't have a lot of personal experience putting things together with Evan but with the right task you realize that there is more at play than just a set of instructions, the right tools, and the willpower to get the job done.
The job was made that much easier because Evan intuitively knew how, what, and when I was going to do what I was doing and the same was true for me. I wouldn't have guessed everything would fall into place as it did nor would I have guessed that we would get the job done as quickly as it got done.
Deciphering the instructions was occasionally a two-man job although the illustrations appeared straightforward on paper. When and where we agreed on the path forward we followed through and where we didn't we hesitated until we agreed on the next steps.
I don't think I have enough appreciation for the things he is capable of doing when he sets his mind to it. I don't think he'll ever build rocket ships like Elon Musk but then again I'm not sure I'd want to bet against him if that is what he decided he wanted to do.
It's true as well that he is more often than not too impatient to listen to me when I tell him things that I want him to remember. Maybe he's paying attention but he's not wanting to give me the satisfaction of knowing that he's listening to me. I'll let you know when I figure it all out if I live that long. Does anyone live that long?
Now that he has a bed he can at least sleep there and that is precisely what he did last evening. It was weird (in a good way) not having him sleep at home. After we got the bedding thing squared away, we enjoyed a celebratory lunch at Lexie's where I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate milk shake while Nancy and Evan had burgers. It's important to note here that not all burgers are beef.
Service seemed slower than we had remembered from our previous visit when it was much busier. It's not supposed to work that way, is it?
Evan had a bit of angst about the whole mattress delivery thing and while he was not articulating that exactly it played out in such a way that he ultimately preferred that we have a hand in the process. It all worked out and the only problem after the fact was that the mattress cover that Nancy had previously purchased was maybe a little too big? How does that happen? A queen is a queen? Is it not? I wondered too about the blanket that Evan decided to bring over to his new place.
It was more of a throw and didn't even come close to covering the expanse of his new queen sized mattress. He did have a queen sized cover sheet so that, in addition to the blanket, would probably be fine. The good news was that his new place has terrific temperature controls so he'll not lose sleep for lack of a proper cover. My parting advice to him was to open the windows from time to time and enjoy the nice cross breezes. He hiked the window a bit and put his hand against the open window and a smile crossed his face.
We got rid of all the empty boxes in his apartment and that seemed to make the place seem "spacious" once again. It is not an overly spacious apartment to begin with so staying organized will be important. Knowing what we know about how he keeps his room clean or not here at home I would say he has his work cut out for him. Nancy helped him empty the dishwasher and the two of them put away groceries that we had purchased at the local grocery store.
If I had to guess I would have said that Evan might have preferred living somewhere where there was less activity during the daylight hours. Why are all these people milling about? Some seemed older and were likely well retired but others looked like they should be working a daytime job or something. Evan seems disinclined to engage them one way or another so I expect he'll be keeping to himself as best he can. Sadly, he will not be the guy whose door you knock on looking for a cup of sugar in a pinch.
At one point when we were half in and half out of the 4th floor elevator with plans to take it down to the first floor we heard a woman approaching. She raised her voice ever so slightly asking. pleading, that we hold the door for her. I was carrying cardboard boxes and Evan was looking disinterested in having anyone else come aboard so we punched the "down" button and hoped against hope that her hand would not slip through the elevator door opening at the last minute.
It didn't and down we went. It was probably a good thing that we never actually laid eyes on her. Or, her eyes on us for that matter.
I try to set a good example when and where I can and that was not one of my finer moments. We should have made room for her and I don't think we had a good reason not to. The relief that Evan was feeling was palpable and I think I caught a mischevious look in his eye as we exchanged glances while descending to the ground floor. Or maybe it was just a look of relief that I mistook for something else. He has the option of taking the stairs but has seemed disinclined to do so so I'm guessing he'll take his chances in the elevator for better or worse.
Nancy bought Evan one of those 'My Pillows" as a house warming gift and something he definitely needed to go along with his new queen sized bed. It struck me as a bit lumpy but I kept my mouth shut. If he thought it was too lumpy he didn't say as much. That's our boy.
Did I mention that we bought his bed frame on Amazon? I only went to Amazon after looking around in various stores and not seeing anything that I thought might work when it came to style, size, and price. Once we had it all unpacked and laid out on the floor in order to assemble it we marveled at the solid construction and contemporary look. Evan and I worked hand in hand to follow the instructions until all the pieces were assembled and secured tightly with the allen wrench included with the materials.
I told Nancy after the fact that putting the frame together with Evan felt oddly synchronous. I don't have a lot of personal experience putting things together with Evan but with the right task you realize that there is more at play than just a set of instructions, the right tools, and the willpower to get the job done.
The job was made that much easier because Evan intuitively knew how, what, and when I was going to do what I was doing and the same was true for me. I wouldn't have guessed everything would fall into place as it did nor would I have guessed that we would get the job done as quickly as it got done.
Deciphering the instructions was occasionally a two-man job although the illustrations appeared straightforward on paper. When and where we agreed on the path forward we followed through and where we didn't we hesitated until we agreed on the next steps.
I don't think I have enough appreciation for the things he is capable of doing when he sets his mind to it. I don't think he'll ever build rocket ships like Elon Musk but then again I'm not sure I'd want to bet against him if that is what he decided he wanted to do.
It's true as well that he is more often than not too impatient to listen to me when I tell him things that I want him to remember. Maybe he's paying attention but he's not wanting to give me the satisfaction of knowing that he's listening to me. I'll let you know when I figure it all out if I live that long. Does anyone live that long?