Homeless No More

(reconstructed from memory)

I woke up bright and early this morning, around 7 o'clock, and dashed out to start my day. The leasing office for my new apartment did not open until 9 so the first thing I did was to dash out and buy a couple of inflatable mattresses and releated bedding so that Riff and I would have something to sleep on at the end of the day. Traffic on 192 was nonexistant at 8am, but an hour later it had really picked up. I made it to the leasing office around 9:30, signed all of my paperwork, and got my keys.

My apartment is towards the front of the complex and on the second floor. It is also huge, much larger than my last place. It has nine foot ceilings, which give it an airy feel, walk-in closets in every bedroom, and a couple of nice built-in shelf units in the living and dining rooms. I love it.

I started emptying my car into the apartment, and after fifteen minutes of carrying things upstairs the humidity got to me and I called it quits. I at least emptied out all of the back seat, and about half of the trunk. The rest I could do on the next trip back. I had promised Sara I would be at her hotel room around 11am to spend the day with Ben while she and her mom went out to sign her lease and to start getting things for her new apartment. Riff went off on his own to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom and then later at Epcot.

Ben still hasn't adjusted to the time change and has had trouble getting to sleep at night, so he slept until well after noon. Once he was awake we took a walk down to the dining hall to get some breakfast, and then he pretty much wanted to hang out in the hotel room all day. All in all it was a pleasant, if mundane, afternoon and evening. Eventually Sara got back, Riff showed up, and he and I went to my new apartment to get settled in.

Unfortunately by then it was nearly midnight and I hadn't thought to inflate the mattresses that morning. The blower motor sounded like a 747 getting ready for takeoff -- I was terrified that I was going to piss off my new neighbors on my very first night. We were also doing some laundry, and we realized that the laundry room was a competely detached building on the other side of the parking lot... perfect for inflating the mattresses without bothering anyone. It was nearly 1am when we finally were able to go to sleep.

The Storm

(reconstructed from memory)

We slept in late this morning, not making it out of the apartment until almost noon. After dropping Riff off at the front of the hotel to catch a bus to the Animal Kingdom I headed over to Sara's room to again spend the day watching Ben. Sara wanted to put plastic down on all the carpets in her new apartment so that when the moving truck was unloaded none of the black sooty metal dust would get into the carpet and stain it.

When Ben was up and ready to go out I took him back to my new apartment so he could see it. He really liked it, especially the inflatable mattresses which he thought were really funny. In the early afternoon a thunderstom rolled in. It is common for afternoon thunderstorms here in the summer, they show up like clockwork and you can plan your day around them, but this one was particularly strong. There were lightning strikes happening all around us, one of which I think struck my local cell tower because I lost all cell service in my area for several hours. Just a few miles away an apartment building was hit directly, sparking a fire that destroyed four apartment units. At my building one of the nearby strikes triggered the building alarm - a piercing whine that was absolutely unbearable. I had to take Ben out onto the breezeway outside the apartment, and when it became obvious the alarm was not going to be shut off anytime soon I took him down to sit in the car. With the rain coming down in sheets I didn't really want to drive anywhere, but at least it was cool and sheltered. (The odd thing that is taking some getting used to for this Seattle boy is that a gray, overcast, rainy day in August in Florida is still warm instead of being chilly like I am used to.)

The rain slackened a bit, so Ben and I went for a drive to explore the area. Eventually Sara called and was ready to take Ben back. We decided to meet up a few hours later at the gates of the Magic Kingdom. It was still raining, but Ben was happy to get to ride Snow White and Peter Pan. By the time we got off Peter Pan the nightly fireworks show was starting. In the past Ben has wanted to have nothing to do with the fireworks, preferring to get as far away as possible. This time he actually stopped dead in his tracks and was watching with a big smile on his face.

After the show Ben went off with Sara to go back to the hotel, and I hooed up with Riff and we went back home (home!) to go to bed.