It was June 27th 2012, seven days after my birthday. My grandma was moving from her two story house, on the hill, to the smallest apartment in the Highlands at Morris Plains. Her new house was not even a mile away from my house. To get to my grandma’s house, from mine, we went out of my driveway, then went down to the end of the road, turned on to another road, then into the parking lot of my Grandma’s new apartment complex. My mom found this new apartment complex. There is an Acme, our family church, and my cousin’s school a couple miles away, and my house is right around the block.

“Now Conor can walk to Grandma’s house, from school, too!” I was talking to my mom, as we drove to the old place. My grandma was thinking about moving for eleven months. Aunt Eileen and mom were a little sad that my grandma was moving. They were the first owners of the house. Zach, Conor and I were also a little upset. I think I was the most upset. Grandma's old house was the first house I ever lived in.

As my mom and I arrived, we drove up to the to the black, two garage driveway, Mom took a deep breath. She slammed the green door of her 2010 Green Subaru Outback. She dragged her feet against the pavement.

“Grandma is finally moving!” I slammed the Subaru door closed.

My Aunt’s car was parked in the two garage driveway. When we got in the door, the family just hung out, remembering the good times. The movers on the other hand, were hard at work upstairs. We could hear the heavy footsteps of the movers. My grandma was sitting on the loveseat, the only object in the den. My Grandma was remembering the good times, and the bad times. The movers were moving all of her memories out of the house and into the truck. Zach, Conor and I were playing a card game. My grandma was sad to leave her neighbors, but also happy that she was moving to a much smaller house. Her new apartment was about the size of three very big walk in closets. The day was moving on, a very sunny day. It was the perfect day to move.

The morning went by fast and soon, it was mid afternoon. My cousins were coming out of the house with rectangle masses. They were loading the masses into their little red car. I was inside cleaning up our tan room. I was picking up some old toys and throwing them in a cardboard box. My grandma had a system for moving. She had three piles: “Eileen’s house”, “Jeanne’s House”, and “New Apartment”. Everyone was helping, picking up some of the memories.

“Where do you want me to put my office things?” I was holding up a big pile of old computer keyboards, folders, and pens and pencils.

Grandma replied with, “Ask Conor what he wants to do.” I remembered whenever Conor and I went to Grandma’s house, we used to play restaurant and office! It was getting close to lunchtime, I could hear my stomach having a conversation with my other organs. My Grandma was actually moving today. I couldn’t believe it.

The house was starting to become unrecognizable. There was hardly anything left in the two-story house on the hill. It was a lunch break for the movers. My grandma’s things were almost all packed up. My aunt was in the dining room looking through old pictures. Zach, Conor and I were downstairs in the unfinished basement. We were walking the perimeter of the basement. There was old trains, an old workshop, some carnival games, and writings we drew on the wall when we were little. There was something that we didn’t recognize. It was my mom’s old wheelchair.

The movers took a break outside on the deck. The plan was to finish packing the little things. Then off the the Highlands of Morris Plains. I was excited!

My cousins, and my job was to go around the whole house and check for anything the movers missed, or we missed. So Zach, Conor and I took different rooms. I was in the yellow room, checking the perimeter.

“Nothing in here.” I listened for an answer from Zach or Conor. We walked down to the unfinished basement. We saw my grandpa’s old train set, again. I remember when we were younger we used to push the buttons on the control board, and pretend that we were in a different world. We discovered a new object in the room, my mom’s wheelchair. We took advantage of its wheels, and we took turns getting rides on the chair!

We probably spent two hours talking turns wheeling around the huge unfinished basement. We were still in the basement, when my mom and grandma came down loading the last of the boxes of my grandma’s whole entire house.

“It’s time to go, guys.” My mom called hoping for a response.

“Okay, we will be up a minute.” All three of us responded. As we were coming up, my cousins were bringing the wheelchair upstairs. My mom said we should bring the wheelchair over to my grandma’s neighbors house, Mr. and Mrs. Landau. After we dropped the wheelchair off, we were off to the NEW apartment. The Highland’s of Morris Plains was going to be my Grandma’s new home!

The movers were following my aunt’s Red Toyota. We drove a couple of miles away from 53 Alexandria Road. The car strolled down the long lengthy hill of the Development of Foster Fields. We turned to Sussex Road, and on our way. When we were at the Highlands of Morris Plains, we met my grandma, and my mom.

“Are you happy to be here Grandma?” I said as I shut the car door, and went into the main office building. As we walked in, the bus-like moving truck was turning into the dense parking lot. As you first walked in, there was a big room, that was the weight room.

“Hey Grandma, you should sign up for that!” Zach was pointing his hand to the workout room. My grandma laughed, and shifted to her right, to sit down and wait for her turn. I couldn’t wait to see my grandma’s new apartment. Everyone gathered in the condensed hallway.

A very tall man, maybe 5’8, with short brown hair, came out of the office. It was Arturo. My grandma had met with him before, and greeted him again. They were discussing the housing situation, and the policies. We went back outside, and rotated 180 degrees and saw another huge building, that was my grandma’s building. The whole development had two, three story buildings.

“Wow, this is a nice place! I’m glad you are going to be living here.” I went to my Grandma and hugged her, before she went into the office.

As we gathered our things, we walked outside, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. My grandma was still in the office, finishing up some papers she had to sign. My aunt, cousins, my mom, and I started to walk around the beautiful court yard. When my grandma was finished signing papers, Arturo walked us to my grandma’s new apartment, 1120. There was the sweetest lady, Stella, and she was vacuuming the hallway. Stella was a light brown, skinned woman with tightly pulled back hair.

“Hola Stella, Como estas, esta es la Señora Evans, ella se mueve en el 1120.” Arturo introduced Grandma.

“Si, Hola Senora Evans encantado de conocerte.” Stella responded with, “Yes, nice to meet you Mrs. Evans!”

As we opened the door to Grandma’s new apartment, we were stunned. It was so nice. It was small, and comfortable. As you first walked in, there was an area that was for a little office, and to the right was the bathroom. It was a Jack and Jill style bathroom, that extended from the wall, to part of her bedroom. It had two doors. One to the hall, and one in her bedroom. It was a straight room, with a shower, a sink, and a toilet. There was a big open area for a little living room, and dinning room together. The kitchen was small, but just right or my grandma. The kitchen was a space that was big enough for a sink, counter space, cabinet space, a fridge and a freezer, also a gas oven stove. The best part of the building, was the parking garage! You walk out of my grandma’s apartment, until you get to the two glass doors, at the very end of the hallway. Outside those doors was the ‘reserved parking garage.’ The garage was only for the residents of the Highlands. This was my Grandma’s NEW HOUSE!!

“Are you happy now??” I asked my Grandma, as she looked at all of us, she was overjoyed.

“Yes!” I can’t wait until I move all of my things in here!” Grandma responded. Zach and Conor and I all took a room to investigate. That was easy, because there was only three rooms.

Soon after we took a quick look, the moving people were behind us. The three movers looked worn out. They only had a couple more hours left of work. As the head mover, a 5’8 African American came with the last box, my Aunt noticed a chip on one of the pieces of furniture my Grandma had.

“Umm, excuse me?” My aunt said to the man. “There’s a scratch on the dresser. Do you know where that came from?” The man was noticeably angry. He was working for four hours. The head mover stormed out of the apartment, and out of the building. Then the other two other movers went outside to take a break. Since everyone was taking a break, my grandma had an idea.

“Hey guys,” Zach, Conor and I turned our heads. “Do you want to walk to Friendly’s?” It took us a little time to respond, but we decided to walk to Friendly’s and get lunch. So Zach, Conor and I got to Friendly’s and sat down to eat some lunch. We used the money my Grandma gave us to pay for the food, when we finished. We walked back to the apartment.

The day was almost over. It was a really good day.

When we got back from Friendly’s, my mom was directing the movers to our house, because there was some more furniture that my grandma didn’t want. Grandma was giving us her piano, some chairs, and a desk. My mom was happy that we were getting the piano, because my mom wanted to start teaching piano lessons, again.

I was going with my aunt and cousins to their house, because I didn’t want to be in the way of the movers. This day was one of the best days for my Grandma! I could see Grandma grinning from ear to ear. I bet that she was glad that the whole process of moving was over, and that she was closer to her grandkids.