Cactus in the Console

Long trips in a car can make you learn a lot about someone, even someone you know extremely, extremely well. Our drive from Alabama to Maine was one we won't forget! We sold our house about a week before we moved, which meant that we got to live in the Microtel in Huntsville, Alabama for about 10 days.... I never gave much thought to the name of the hotel, but after checking in, I realized that the word "Micro" is included in the name for a reason. A tiny hotel room becomes much tinier when you move 2 people and a 60 pound dog into it, along with a good amount of all their earthly possessions. But we had fun nonetheless! After our stay, we got into our Toyota Corolla and waved goodbye to the South and all things familiar.
The items in our car included a trunk piled high with things that didn't fit in the moving van, suitcases for the trip, our dog Henry, and a large bamboo plant (that did indeed survive the trip). That left little room for my cactus that I just couldn't part with, so only place to put it was in the console. This meant that Scott came dangerously close to being poked and stabbed every time he changed gears. All of this, along with the fact that Henry sat in my lap for most of the 25+ hour trip, meant that there was not much room for stretching, sleeping, or taking a deep breath. A day or so into the trip, we received a call from the moving company that our moving truck was "delayed" and that they "had no contact with the driver, and could not inform us as to the location of our possessions or estimated time of delivery." This was bad news to hear, but news that somehow seems worse with a dog crushing the bones in your legs and cactus thorns in your wrists. Just as I was about to pull my hair out, Scott got me to laugh. He changed his voice to sound like the moving company's increasingly familiar automated message, then began pretending to leave messages. "Your belongings have been lost at sea. Please call again." "Your possessions have been destroyed. Have a nice day." Or my personal favorite: "We're sorry. Your personal items have spontaneously combusted." We were both rolling, laughing so hard we were crying. Even after we arrived at our new home in Maine and were sleeping on a mattress on the floor the first night with nothing but a small lamp we had purchased at the Walmart down the road, we hadn't completely lost the ability to see the humor in the situation. I realized that with the right attitude and the ability to joke, not complain, about a frustrating situation, things were going to go well in this new unfamiliar territory.