Almost too tired to type, but I must while things are still fresh in my mind.
For those following this blog, you recall that today was the day I was to enter into my own personal purgatory, also known as IKEA. I had it all mapped out...what departments to go to, the people I needed to speak to, the arrangements for the shipment to the warehouse of Deerfield Moving/Sonigo. I THOUGHT I could be in and out fairly quickly. Well, you have heard of The Hundred Years War...they also thought it would be over quickly. The participants in that war and I had one thing in common...we were both wrong!
I ended up in the first Ikea for nearly THREE hours. I seemed to have criss-crossed my path on more than one occasion observing that some of the personnel were great and helpful while others...let's just say that they would benefit from a course by Dale Carnegie.
In any event, I ran hither and yon, picking the bookcases, doors, cabinets, stainless steel cart and other "essentials." When it was all said and done, I did not get everything I wanted to, since I knew in advance that I would need to visit a second location (Hashem Yerachem!) for certain bookcase doors.
The funny thing is that I was in and out of the Ikea (in Bolingbrook--yes, that IS where "Old Chicago" was for you old time Chicagoans!) in about 12 minutes! I think that there were 15 other people in the whole store and there definitely was only one cashier.
The ride back was terrible, but I kept telling myself these were just more tests on the road to Aliya. Tomorrow, I need to run to Elk Grove and (suddenly) also to Elmhurst as a couple of items we needed relating to bedding that should have been available 2 minutes from our house are suddenly OUT OF STOCK. So, off to the Western Suburbs tomorrow!
One last thought...the entire focus for days has now been: LIFT, LIFT and the LIFT. Then, it occurred to me that (in Chutz La'aretz at least) this week's Parasha is Parashat Naso, which means "to lift" or "to raise" !! How cool is that!?!?
Thirty days, 10 hours, 42 minutes...TICK...TICK...TICK....wow, almost under 30 days!
