"My elderly mother needed to leave her Almaden home and move in with us in Cambrian, and she's stubborn, opinionated, and convinced every mover is a thief, but the foreman won her over inside fifteen minutes by asking about the framed photo of my late father on her dresser, treating her wedding china like it was his own grandmother's, and patiently answering the same three questions she kept repeating, which is the reason she now refers to ""those nice young men"" every time the move comes up at

Tiny studio off Stevens Creek to a slightly less tiny one near Diridon, two guys, two hours, two hundred bucks less than the next quote I'd received, and I am still smiling about it.

Twelve years in our Berryessa home meant twelve years of stuff I'd forgotten I owned, but the lead mover walked through with a clipboard, asked smart questions about what was fragile and what wasn't, and quoted us a price that didn't budge on moving day even when we added two more boxes from the garage, which is the kind of straight dealing that's getting harder to find anywhere.