It is ten years ago this week that Daisy and I packed up all of my things and the (at the time) three cats, loaded everything that would fit into a U-Haul, and performed a low-rent version of Smokey and the Bandit from Newton, KS to Omaha -- her driving the truck, me driving her car with all three cats in their carriers across the backseat, all of them howling the entire way.
My car, the Monte Carlo -- oh, how I miss it -- was already up here and sitting in the parents' driveway; I'd driven it up there the previous weekend to essentially "drop it off," as we would have three vehicles and two of us (the U-Haul, Daisy's car my car) and couldn't get all of them up to Omaha at the same time.
I remember that drive -- it was exceedingly boring, hot, and is still likely the farthest/longest I've ever driven in one sitting, especially alone -- the drive between Newton and Omaha was approximately six hours. Daisy and I made it in five or under before, driving at night and going way above the speed limit in her car, but this was a drive during daylight hours with way more traffic (and a lot of highway patrol out and cruising). I was terrified that the Monte Carlo, which was the automobile equivalent of the Millennium Falcon, would fall apart or overheat or blow a major part during the drive, as it was a long drive on two different major interstates at highway speeds. I was shocked that on that drive it performed better than any other drive I'd taken it on. Not one issue, not one weird noise, not a single stall out or transmission slip or overheating problem the entire way. Moreover, I'd stopped for gas twice, I stopped at the Walmart in York, NE to get out and stretch my legs and get something to eat, and remarkably I was able to remember the exact path Daisy had previously taken to get to the parents' house when I'd visited the family on previous few occasions. I don't know if it was stress and anxiety giving me a laser focus or what, but I pulled into their driveway in the late afternoon hours safe and sound, and I was finally there.
The time of the move was stressful and tiring, and Daisy and I were squabbling a lot during it. I also badly wrenched my shoulder/rotator cuff (I may have actually popped it halfway out of socket, I don't know -- it didn't heal for weeks) and I must remind all of you, Daisy and I were not married yet. That wouldn't happen for another two weeks. I was also on edge for a lot of it because, truthfully, I was starting a completely new life in another state that I'd never lived in before, in a city much larger than any I'd ever lived in before (I say this knowing that yes, I did live in Kansas City, but it was the suburbs and not really within the city proper). I'd just left my teaching job, I only had the barest amount of survival money and did not have a guarantee of another job on the horizon at that point, and I was about to get married.
Over the course of about 48 hours of nearly nonstop manual labor, we went back down to my house in Newton, loaded the U-Haul (which cost over $300 to rent for the time I needed it for), cleaned the house as best we could, slept quickly, and left that town forever. We drove in tandem to the new apartment in Omaha, unloaded all of the stuff with the help of Daisy's best friend, and were just trying to get it shoved into the apartment to be sorted later. Then Daisy dropped off the U-Haul and I seem to recall sleeping like a rock for about three days with my very stressed, out-of-place cats who hid in cupboards and tubs and sinks because they were frightened and in a place they didn't know.
A few days later the internet would be installed, I would sign up for Netflix, Daisy went back to work and we both, in our downtime, would slowly unpack, look for jobs for me, and would ready ourselves for the wedding.
I have now lived in Omaha for ten years. Four of them were in that shitty apartment complex that I thought was so nice when I moved in, and then the last six of them (almost) have been in our house. During that time Daisy and I got married, I got the job at the place I -- unfortunately/sadly -- am currently still employed by, the Monte Carlo was vandalized and destroyed, and I got a truck that I drove for a while and later sold. I have survived numerous severe weather scares and multiple close-ish tornadoes -- including one where Daisy and I had to shelter in place in the breakroom of a Target store three or four days after the wedding. One of the original generation of cats has died, but we have since adopted three more. Daisy is still driving the same car, despite it now having been in at least two accidents, one of which messed her up for a couple of years. We have traveled to Canada and back three times (about to be four), to Chicago and back on a few occasions, to New Orleans and back, to West Virginia and back, to Denver and back, to South Dakota and back (twice), and to the Carolinas and back. Through it all, we have remained deeply in love and have called Omaha our home base.
I don't know where we will be in ten years. Hopefully it is not here in Omaha.
I say that in a bittersweet fashion because I really do not mind this town that much -- there is always something to do here and someplace to go. There is some outlandishly good food in this town, shopping of almost any sort, and if I want to see a comedian or a band play live there's a good chance Omaha will be one of the tour stops. It's not an overly-dangerous or crime-ridden city, and I really like my house.
That being said, the weather sucks -- the hottest summers, the coldest winters, tornadoes in the spring and sometimes the fall, and outside the immediate area of Omaha the state of Nebraska is deeply Trump-supporting Republican. We are here now, and for the foreseeable future, because Daisy's parents are alive and live here in Omaha. When they are gone, there is no way in hell I want to remain here. You'd better believe that I will drop whatever I'm doing and we will look for another place to live as soon as humanly possible. My dream is to live on a coastline somewhere (my parents are currently living my dream, but Daisy does not want to live in the Carolinas).
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