On Friday morning at 5 a.m., I will board another Amtrak to travel to Jacksonville, FL. for another wild weekend of poker. But in the meantime, I am caught up in a new apartment cluttered with furniture, household things, packed bags, filled suitcases and other fixtures that go with a major move.
My daughter and her fiancee decided on the move to another section of charming Charleston, S.C. It is a wooded area of apartment houses surrounded by magnolia, cypress trees and coconut palms -- southern charm at its best. I just went along for the ride.
I have always sympathized with professional movers. It must be backbreaking work for people to haul sofas, stuffed chairs, refrigerators, television sets and the rest of a family's belongings from an apartment to a house and to another final location. I wouldn't do it for any amount of money.
When I was undergoing basic training in the U.S. Army at Ft. Ord, CA., we had a sadistic corporal who had gone mad when the Army gave him an extra stripe. He decided to have fun with the recruits on a Saturday and had us carry our bunk beds out of a second story barracks to the street below, and then back into the barracks -- 20 times.
By the time we were done, we were exhausted. We placed the corporal on our hate list for future payback. While I am sure he suspected our animosity, I don't think he understood the depth of our hatred for his orders.
We lived in the other apartment for a year, filling out our lease. When the apartment management decided to increase fees and the rent, we decided it was time to leave.
Even though I am planning on returning to Arizona, I like the new apartment. It sits in a part of Charleston that is reminiscent of the old Southern plantations. I can almost hear Scarlett O'Hara discussing the future of the south with a smiling Rhett Butler. Rhett is smoking a cigar, nodding, but you know with those merry eyes he is thinking, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'
Over the next few days my daughter, David and the children will be unpacking all the things and making the apartment inhabitable. It is a job but Rossana, who is a bit of a perfectionist, will get it done.
Meanwhile, I will be in Jacksonville playing pot limit Omaha High-Low to add to my traveling money. I also plan to play in a bounty pot limit Omaha High-Low tournament. I have won the tournament in the past and hope to post a repeat performance.
My muscles still ache from moving all the heavy stuff. And I am still amazed at how much harder it was to load the U-Haul truck than it was to unload it. It must have taken twice as much time loading as unloading.
For those of you who are planning a move in the future, my sympathies go out to you. Don't carry anything too heavy. Think of the adage, 'This, too, shall pass', and just get the damn job done. Now if you will pardon me, I plan to get a cup of good strong coffee while waiting for the whistle of that south-bound Amtrak train.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
