first night

all week i've been thinking where we were last year at this time. a year ago today, we arrived in santa monica and saddled up to our empty house. i think today's the day we also learned that our moving truck was 'off track' and all our worldy belongings would be here 2 weeks later than we thought. we had our car, our suitcases from our road trip across the country, two easter baskets, 2 sleeping bags, tayloe's golf clubs and for some reason, our vaccum cleaner.
with that, we bought a cheap mattress and commenced operation camp-out house, in which tayloe and i spend 10 days at pacific st without a lick of comfort except before mentioned matress, a $20 tv from goodwill, 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 glasses and a bowl also from goodwill and 1 hotel towel. later in the week we bought a washer and dryer from michael london.
also, i was 6 and a half months pregnant. i was trying to remember today if i really minded it (it sure seems like i should have), but i don't think i did. all i remember is feeling happy.
when our moving truck finally did arrive, after two weeks of calling everyday and getting 1,000 different stories about where they were and when they'd be here, it was 7 p.m. the night before we were getting on a plane to go back to the east coast for the menokin bluegrass festival.
my cell phone rang around 6:45 that night. i answered.
on the other end: hey, yeah, mrs. emery?
me: yes
on the other end: well, it's us. the movers. and, uh, we're on your street and we're seein that there's a taco bell here on the corner. so we're gonna stop and get some tacos. ok?
me: um. ok? (looking out the window and down the street and in fact seeing a moving truck parked outside the taco bell)
on the other in: is that ok? you want somethin?
seriously. he asked me if i wanted something. like, maybe, furniture?
we loaded everything in this house, went to bed and left the next morning. we didn't touch a single box or unwrap a single piece of furniture. and i don't think we were really terribly fretted about it. how very zen of us.
anyway, tayloe took this picture on our first night in california, which was before all that. we were somewhere near the california-arizona border in a motel parking lot. we'd been to sedona, to denver, ridden in a helicopter, driven through a snow & hail storm, stayed in a real western inn in durango, slept on the rim on the grand canyon, hiked around the pueblos in mesa verde.
it was just us at our finest. it's been the most fun year, hasn't it tay? i'm the happiest i've ever been.