Atypical & Awesome “The Last and the First- again and Meanwhile”
Yesterday, was one of THOSE days- when expectation versus reality have a head-on collison. It started a little hairy but good. Shortly after getting that first cup of coffee in me, a cowriter approached me with a song idea and almost immediately a friend approached me with a situation which needed some intervention. Both the situation and a new song lyric were knocked out and relayed to the appropriate parties. This was as I was getting ready to leave to take my son back to college for his final year. For his first years, he lived on campus but this year he made the jump to living off campus. We treked the four hours to Tuscaloosa and arrived promptly at 1:00 pm as his move-in time was 1:00 pm -3:00pm. I am very diligent about dotting i’s and crossing t’s so I wanted to make sure everything was handled. He gets his move-in packet and all is well- except- his keys aren’t ready but should be in about 20 minutes. No problem, we go grab lunch downtown. He texts one of his roommates who was supposed to move in at noon. He isn’t in either and he left North Carolina at 4 am to move in at noon. He, too is waiting on keys. At 2 pm- we return to the apartment to get the keys. The keys are being cut- check back later is what we’re told. I will spare you the not-that-funny comedy of errors which ensued. We figured out it was not a key issue it was the apartment wasn’t ready issue. Again- sparing details here but Phillip and I were let inside the apartment and it had recently been painted and paint dust was everywhere, the bathrooms were dirty, and the refrigerator needed some serious attention. However, the property manager could not gave been more patient and kind. She was wonderful and sent in a team of housecleaners to take care of the issue. Conner got his keys at 7 pm last night and I plan to check on him later this morning to see how the first night went. Phillip and I were hot, irritable, and tired so we didn’t get the yearly goodbye hug and good luck pictures. But maybe we took away and left something else- a day of problem-solving experience and adaptability. Skills Conner will need- and also the understanding that kindness can make things happen when being rude typically just makes the problem worse. We didn’t fet the “pretty apartment pics” but we did get some stories. It really is always something.
The best we could get- but it is symbolic in many ways. They’re gonna be alright.