There was one specific moment of 2003 that happened during the farewell tour. We took a multi-day trip to Ohio to see where we would be living and to meet the people there. This small excursion had such an impact on me and would set the tone for the first major move I was about to experience.
On August 9th, 2003, we all piled into the car and made the 6 hour drive to Cleveland, OH. When we arrived it was pretty late and the sky was black. As we dragged our tired selves to this strange house, I was expecting the family that lived there to greet us. But instead, all that could be found was a note on the door. My parents were well aware that the note be there when we arrived, but this was not knowledge to me. Based on the instructions of the note, we were able to get inside. My first thought was, how crazy must they be to not only leave their house unlocked but to let 7 strangers enter their home and fall asleep before they arrive?? I personally would've lost my mind if my parents did that fearing that random children may be terrorizing my room, getting into all my Legos, or simply invading my sacred space. Eventually my tiredness overwhelmed me and I drifted off to the land of dreams.
I awoke the next morning to a lively house. Most of the host family was awake and breakfast was being prepared. I wanted to sleep a little longer, but with all the commotion, that wasn't going to happen. It was time to meet our hosts, the Miller family. The first ones I met were the parents, Tim and Connie as they were in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Their youngest, Timothy was also there as he was eager to meet us. Their oldest son, Mark, eventually traversed the stairs and made an appearance. Not long after that, he was tasked by his mom with telling his sister, Hannah, that it was time to wake up. Little did I know it then, but those five people were about to become a crucial part of my life.
The few days we were there blur together in my mind, but I do remember bits and pieces. I remember all three days being sunny. I remember touring Impett Park which was right across the street from where we were supposed to move and being stoked there was a public pool that close. I remember Timothy being excited to show me around the meeting hall, all the secret spots, and the crab-apple tree that was fun for climbing and eating from.
One of the days was spent touring the house we were going to move into. From the outside, it didn't look that big, but it was big enough to hold a family of 7. I don't remember much how it looked because I was more focused on the big TV in the basement where a young man was playing video games. That young man's name was Jason. And he was the cousin of Grace and Isaac who we knew back in Pennsylvania. Him and his mom were going to move back overseas which is why the house would be available. What I really liked was that it was right across the street from Impett Park with the pool.
Now being 12 years old, I still had mischievous ways of my own. A few weeks prior to the visit, my friend Jordan had given me his only Gameboy, unbeknownst to my parents. It wasn't that we weren't allowed to play video games, but my parent's didn't want us owning any because they didn't want our lives to be consumed by them. I made the daring move of sneaking it out to Ohio. It really didn't get used during the day, but instead, when I was in bed each night, I spent about an hour playing it. It was hidden under my pillow and yes I left it there overnight because the pillow was so soft and padded that I couldn't feel it underneath. Each morning, I would then stuff it deep in my bag so it a slim chance of being discovered.
My craftiness was on par. My stealth was unmatched. I felt like a ninja. But I slipped. I made a crucial mistake. On the very last night, I played the Gameboy as I normally did, then instead of putting it into my bag so it was ready to go when we left, my brain was on autopilot and I put it under the pillow. The next morning I was so excited to be going back to PA, that I lapsed and left it under the pillow. It wasn't until later in the day when we were getting ready to leave that I remembered I had left it there. I ran all the way up to the third floor to find a bed with new sheets, no pillow, and the Gameboy was gone. My brother Tim told me Dad and Mom had found it. I thought I was a dead pigeon. Instead of waiting for them to confront me, I went to them. With a bit of fear, but a plan in mind, I asked them where it was. Dad had it and asked me where I got it from and why did I have it? Instead of saying it was given to me, I told him that I had borrowed it from Jordan for the long car trip. I was expecting him to scold me and hang onto it, but surprisingly, he did neither. He gave it back and said something along the lines of getting in back to him when we got home. I felt like I had dodged a bullet. While I was not proud of that moment, I did not take for granted one of the few times I felt like I had been given a free pass I did not deserve.
That handful of days blew by and before I knew it, we were ready to head back to PA for the last time as residents of the Keystone State. Meeting the Millers had eased my fears a bit more knowing we were going to be around some great people. Right before we hit the road, Timothy, in his goodbye, mentioned the Friday night young people's meeting they have every week and said it would be cool if we could be there. My dad told him being 6 hours away was a bit of a trek, but when we moved there, we'd be sure to check it out. We said our goodbyes and off we went.
On August 14th, 2003, shortly after we returned home, disaster struck the Northeastern US and parts of Canada. The Northeast Blackout. In short, a bug in an alarm system and a plant failure that began in Ohio triggered a chain reaction that wiped out power across 7 states and parts of Canada. It affected 55 million people and lasted anywhere from 2 hours to 4 days depending on where one was located. To make matters worse, there was a heat wave that August that made things scorching hot without A/C. The silver lining to all this was that where my family lived was in an unaffected area. We had power for the entire duration of the blackout. I was grateful it didn't happen while we were in Cleveland and that it didn't affect us, but it didn't do my anxiety any good as my mind put another negative mark on Cleveland for potential power disasters. It would be something the folks of northeast Ohio would talk about for a long time.
Before I get into moving day, I need to make mention of one more significant event that happened in 2003. After five long years, Elise and her family moved back from Germany to Pennsylvania. We both had definitely changed, but it was a good to have them back. But now it was our turn to depart.
The week leading up to moving day was essentially moving week. When one has a big family and lived in one place for almost 10 years, said large family accumulates a lot of stuff. Now we weren't pack rats by any means, aside from Sarah who kept every little doodle, bead, and scrap of paper under the sun, but it was easier to store stuff in the attic than find away to get rid of it. I remember the process being this whole ordeal. My parents were pulling items out of the attic I never knew existed. The task was an all hands on deck affair.
Many hands came and helped. Stuff my parent's considered no longer worth anything was put into black trash bags and set out on the curb. There were so many that you couldn't see any grass or plant life where they laid. Then, my parents called in the calvary. Al drove over in his Jeep Wagoneer with his two wheel trailer in tow. That trailer was loaded up for two reasons. The first was to take items we did not need to bring with us, but still wanted to keep back to his house to store for us. The second was to haul larger items off to the dump. We also loaded up our early 90s Chevrolet Lumina mini van multiple times with possessions in order to transport them all to Al and Sue's in a timely manner.
It wasn't long before that week came to an end. The house that had been full of Watkins's and their stuff was now empty. It was weird seeing it like that because the very first time I saw it for myself, everything was moved in and it was furnished. It had a slight, eerie, feeling to it. We weren't going to be able to take all three cars vehicles with us as there were only two people who could legally drive and one had to drive the U-haul. So we drove the behemoth Dodge van over to my grandparent's house and parked it there. The 83' Ford Tempo was tow-hitched onto the back of the U-haul and filled with stuff that wouldn't fit in the truck. The Lumina would be the only vehicle of the three that would have a driver for the whole journey. With all our goodbyes said and our entire life loaded up, it was time to say goodbye to Abbottstown, PA one last time.
While I recall the memories of that week, all the organized chaos, the moving parts and pieces, the only thing really on my mind then was that this chapter of my life was coming to a close. Even though I was well aware my parents were renting that brown shotgun ranch house all those years, I was ignorant to the fact that this was far from longevity as possible. This house was the first house I had lived in longer than two years. And for a kid that went from nearly four years old to 12 years old in one place, that was an eternity...until it wasn't. Life is a funny thing for a kid to navigate, but in doing so, it teaches how to grow, learn, and live. Sometimes it'll throw haymakers when least expected. It's not how they knock you down that matters. It's how you get back up.
