Becoming the Responsible One

R.a.n.t. of week 07/07/13

When did I become the responsible one? Not saying I'm not a responsible person, I am. In my own way. Responsibilities are paramount to an adult, but not everyone looks up to the same people. This past weekend was a very busy one for me. I had almost no time for myself. Just a few of the things I did: take my step-mother shopping, help a friend with his computer IT problems (have you tried turning it off and on?), volunteered some time to set up a pioneer school and then helped a friend move.

Let's concentrate on the move, because that's where I felt most in charge. First and foremost I did a lot of things outside of my comfort zone. For one, driving a moving van. I've never been big on driving larger vehicles but I felt I needed to in this instance. Right from the start I was the eldest helper, at least initially. So when it was time to get the moving van, I was the logical choice. I went with Jo to pick up the van and drove it to their place. A place in back was the ideal spot to load up, so all I had to do was back it up into the spot. Having a bad time with judging distances, especially from such a large vehicle, and only having the help of kids was fairly nerve-wrecking, but I did it.

So we started loading up the van. Because mostly it was younger ones helping and they were just placing stuff into the back of the van, someone had to step up and I've done this rodeo a few times, so again I was the logical choice. Most of the furniture had already been moved so essentially we just had to make sure everything was packing in tight. The last thing you want to happen when moving with a van is things flying around. The current time was 1:00pm and the van had to be back at 4:30 (I thought 4) so I wanted to get this done in one trip. I stacked as best as possible, but there were more odd sort of items than boxes so I had to be creative, yet smart. You don't want to place a box of books on a bundle of plastic wrapped dress clothes, you just don't. By the time the van was filled, all items in the house were gone.

Once again I was in charge of driving the van, fortunately there was space in front of the new place, though I had to do a bit of parallel parking with the moving van. Did I mention I'm not good with spaces? This time I took the "lead" unloading the van. Did I push things along too quickly? Well, I did stress a few times we had to get the van back at a certain time in hopes of inspiring others to 'move it'. But I don't think I was being brusk. But then again, that would be up to anyone else who was there.

I wanted to take the van back right away but food was prepared and others were ready to eat, so I backed down on that opinion of mine. Truth be told, I needed some water and a bite to eat also. It was nice to be able to associate for a little while, but the van still needed to get back so I took charge of that again, making sure I had a friend come along so I had a ride back to my car.

I know, not a very compelling story this week, not very funny, and more than likely I didn't seem like the person in charge or the most responsible one of the group to others. In all things, beauty...... errrrr responsibility is in the eye of the beholder.

Plus is it very responsible to crack yokes all the time?
Sorry, bit of a hang-over from last week.

P.S. If everyone thought this article was going to be about me crashing a U-Haul van. I guess the jokes on you. The van was returned safely.