The Fifth Floor Walk-up

My daughter had laid out a rough schedule for the move. We'd already blown it on Friday as we had to fix a last minute screw-up with her new bed frame. Saturday would now include loading all the furniture and boxes from my mom's garage into the U-Haul, driving into Brooklyn and unloading with the help of her boyfriend, roommate and two other friends. All in the freezing cold with the remains of a significant snow storm on the ground. It was until Friday night that I finally remembered to ask about her apartment building. No elevators and an apartment on the fifth floor. The pain and aggravation factor had just been exponentially multiplied.

Since I've always been in the habit of anticipating my next meal, I realized that executing a move of this nature on the fourth day of my newly restrictive diet would require some serious preparation. After all, this is not a starvation program. I generally don't go more than two hours before eating again. Without being able to rely on my normal staples for this sort of all day scenario (cereal, sandwiches, pizza, beer, and Clif Bars), I am forced to relinquish my morning run on moving day to prepare more elaborate and healthy alternatives. Concerned about eating enough, I make a giant 10 egg & red pepper scramble and proceed to eat about 3/4 of it. Coffee is not on my verboten list (couldn't give up everything!) so I finally figure out how to get my mom's coffee maker to brew up some really strong stuff.

While making the breakfast, I also cook up brown rice in a bag (only ten minutes after boiling!) and green beans. Lunch would be a pre-made brown rice salad with roasted chicken (bought at the grocery store) and green beans. Just in case, I cook two bags of brown rice. I also prepare a "food bag" to accompany me with the following: a mixture of raisins, dried cranberries and pepitas (a new food group for me), a bunch of bananas, big bag of cashews, and an apple. Maybe they should make me an honorary boy scout.

In the end, the move went incredibly well. I had just enough cash to pay the highway robbery toll of $13 at the Triboro Bridge. We got a parking space right in front of the building. The boyfriend and his roommate worked so hard hauling furniture up five flights that they were in t-shirts in below freezing temps. And I loved the apartment, roomy with lots of light. Her new neighborhood is very diverse and largely Hasidic, and since it was Saturday, we saw many in their distinctive Sabbath dress.

Leaving the new apartment mates to celebrate, I headed over to relax with some of my best friends. I would have really enjoyed doing that relaxing with a glass (or more) of wine, but somehow managed to stick to the plan.

Lesson # 3: Preparing real food takes time, energy and planning, much more than I'm used to doing. But the payoff was big, providing not only the necessary calories, but the opportunity to savor and enjoy them with my daughter.