Three Beautiful Things 09/18/17: Cargo Van, Yakkin' with Ashley, Relaxing in Near Emptiness

1. The Deke and I bounded out of our apartment home and piled into the Sube and blasted down to the Enterprise store in Lanham where we confirmed our reservation for a cargo van and Ashley helped me get everything squared away and I lumbered back up the Capital Beltway in the van back up to our apartment home where Molly and Hiram had arrived, eager to load the van up with tables, shelves, dressers, a desk, a couch, and the other big items we owned that in a matter of a couple of hours would no longer be ours, but belong to the Diazes.

2. I wasn't much help loading the van -- in fact, maybe it worked out better that I was out of the way. Molly and Hiram packed it up like real pros. I drove the cargo to the Diaz house and now I could be of assistance. I leaped into the van and brought items to Molly and Hiram at the mouth of the van and we emptied the van efficiently and without incident.

Back at Enterprise, Ashley was surprised to see me back so soon and when I requested a ride home, she grabbed a huge pickup truck, I hopped in, and we had a great talk about Maryland, Washington, D.C., her ROTC days at Howard University, and the soul food at Carolina Kitchen. I told Ashley how much I was going to miss living in the D. C. area, and she was especially happy to hear me say how much I'd come to love Maryland.

If Enterprise were to ask me to nominate an employee of the year, Ashley would receive my vote. Once again, I had a great experience with a member of the much maligned Millennial Generation!

3.  I returned to our apartment home and relaxed. I propped some folded blankets up against the plastic crate that holds our personal papers and lay down on the floor and chilled on the Internet and completed a level of Candy Crush Saga that had baffled me for a couple of days. Our apartment home is not quite empty, but it was very quiet and I enjoyed the solitude.

Then I made my first pass at vacuuming the carpet where our furniture and bed had been with the hope that as the Deke and I spend the next couple of days getting the rest of our stuff sorted out and shipped, the place will feel a little bit fresher than it did when this day began.