As mentioned in my previous couple of posts, my latest move has been
marked by run-ins with some excellent people: I wouldn’t have found this house
I’m now in without the kind, firm tenacity of Andrea at Signature Realty (and access to the office Keurig);
thanks to Lynne across the street my nephew and I didn’t end up waiting at
Northport Station for a train that would get us to Penn Station just in time to
be stranded there all night after spending the day moving (or not, thanks to a faulty fuel pump); Greg who lives in the converted cottage out back,
besides coming through for us with a large pizza, helped me drag my
newly-bought, used, half-ton couch from my van into my living room. (Greg’s a
big guy and it was still a feat maneuvering the beast through the front door
without losing my security deposit on day one. And he's such a cool neighbor he
still said 'Hey if you need anything else...')
Also deserving of kudos are various people in the
Northport-East Northport School District. Initially I thought I was going to
live in this crappy duplex on this hilly, crumbling dead-end street. With this
in mind I contacted the people at nearby Norwood Elementary to let them know I
would be registering my oldest son for kindergarten there – while
simultaneously apologizing for doing so at such a late date. ‘Oh, no problem at
all,’ sang Ms. Esposito, the school nurse. Of course she wasn’t the one to have
to now prepare extra name plates for the coat hanger, cubby hole, chair, shelf,
gold star chart, homework bag, art shelf and whatever else my son would need to
be an official member of the class. After forty minutes of pleasant
conversation and loads of information regarding the immunization policies of
the school district, the good nurse sent me a prepared registration packet in
the mail along with a note saying she was setting aside a supply kit for my son
to make sure he had what he needed from Day One. Two days later I found a
mildly less crappy duplex in the zone of another of the town’s schools.
‘Hi, excuse me, I’m really sorry but I just moved to town
(actually I hadn’t yet but there wasn’t time for such boring technicalities)
and my son is going to be entering kindergarten…’