Brave Is What You Do

March 2022

It was a rainy, cold day in an industrial area of Spokane and I had been watching men shuffle our belongings from one truck to the other and feeling mostly useless.  I tried to grab something, but it was too high and too heavy, so Josiah helped me.  When he was done, I hugged him in the frigid metal trailer.  “Thank you for your strength. Sorry, I’m not strong,” I said into his chest.

Early that morning we left Rachel in charge of the children in our trailer in Sandpoint while we drove with Josiah two hours away to Spokane to unload the UPack trailers into UHaul trucks.  

Originally we were going to leave the van and come back for it on the 2nd trip, but it was a sketchy neighborhood.  It took four tries for them to find us a UHaul truck that had not had gas siphoned.  

I was trying to decide what to do, when one of the four movers we had hired to help said, “Why doesn’t he,” pointing to my 16-year-old son who has only ever driven in our small town, “drive your van?  He has to learn some time.”
Gulp.  

So we both did something scary…I drove a 26 foot UHaul truck for the first time and my son drove our 12-passenger van through rush-hour Spokane traffic and then on to rainy mountain roads in the dark.   We had no way to communicate with each other, because we had left our 2nd phone with the kids in the trailer.  I went in front, Peter in the back, while we cocooned our precious boy in the middle.
  
Driving a 26-foot truck for the first time—easy.  Having your child do something scary without you—hard.  Life is just doing stuff you don’t feel ready for.  Scared is how you feel. Brave is what you do.

I think we moved to the right place

A funny-find.  Some of our best friends left a surprise for us when they helped us pack in New Mexico.  It was a sweet token of friendship and love on a very difficult day.  FYI we are now set up with a lifetime supply of cascarones!

Our three Uhauls--mapping out our upcoming trip

Driving home from Spokane

Train Crossing for Asher

We had hoped to unload our belongs into the shipping containers.  A half load is all that made it up the mountain.  We had made arrangements with the "church" friend to help in case we got stuck again.  We did get stuck, but it only took 10 minutes to get unstuck, thanks to our friend's help.  

While unloading in the rain and mud, the "tractor" neighbor came stomping up and barked at Peter, "You better not be bringing any more trucks up here.  Some people are trying to get work done!"  Before Peter could respond he had already marched away.  Peter was flabbergasted.  Evidently, we had delayed a workman headed to his property.  I'm sorry we inconvenienced you for 10 minutes while we work in the mud and rain and are homeless.  Apparently, "tractor" neighbor is astonishingly selfish and lacks all empathy.  

We chose to unload the other three full Uhauls in various storage units that I scrambled to find throughout the valley--not just because of our neighbor's hostility, but because it was an almost impossible task getting up there and loading in the mud and rain.

Unloading in Elmira.  We also found storage in Sagle.

We were so grateful that the missionaries were able to help a couple of hours for our last load.

Spokane missionaries

Sandpoint missionaries

SONG INSPIRATION

The Light by Sara Bareilles

"No one knows where it ends

How it may come tumbling down

But I'm here with you now

I'm with you now

And hear you say, "We'll be alright"

I'm gonna trust you, babe

I'm gonna look in your eyes

And hear you say, "We'll be alright"

I'll follow you into the light

Let the world come rushing

Come down hard, come crushing

All I need is right here beside me"