Monday Morning Jig

Monday Morning Jig

by | Aug 24, 2009 | Daily Life

The weather was glorious this morning, and so was my mood. During my walk along the gravel road, I ticked off the blessed unclutteredness of this new week:

  • Daughter and a truckload of her belongings and some of Grandma’s old furniture safely deposited at college.
  • Daughter’s boyfriend and some of Grandma’s old furniture safely deposited at his apartment.
  • Son and some of Grandma’s old furniture safely deposited in his apartment.
  • Son’s fiance and some of Grandma;s furniture safely deposited in her apartment.
  • Some of Grandma’s old furniture safely deposited at cousin’s house.
  • The rest of Grandma’s old furniture put to good use in our house.
  • The walls of the guest room are now visible with extra furniture gone.
  • The garage stall, full of this and that since Mom’s house sold in March, finally empty again.
  • Anne’s bedroom, minus the truckload of stuff she took to college, is now available for house guests.
  • Mystery novel compete, edited, and on its way to the publishing house considering it.
  • Different Dream website ready to be launched.
  • I have uninterrupted work time now that daughter is safely deposited at college, along with a pickup load of her belongings.
  • Mother safely tucked away at brother’s house, her finances organized and under control, the last of her keepsakes being distributed to appreciative owners.

Finally, after months of boxes and extra furniture, after weeks of overwhelming projects, I was ready to move on. Feeling light as a feather, I did a little woo-hoo whoop and jigged up the driveway, arranging and rearranging my week’s vast, uncluttered expanses of time and space. When I came around the garage, my happy dance ended. Stacked in front of the kitchen door were three boxes. The books I’d ordered from the publisher had arrived, much sooner than expected. As my vast, uncluttered expanses of space and time evaporated, and I hauled the cartons into the kitchen, I checked off one last blessing:

  • We got the shelving unit from Mom’s basement painted and moved into our bedroom on Saturday. Just in the nick of time, I have a place to stack the books.

My feet and heart are dancing again.

Not What We Expected

Not What We Expected

by | Sep 15, 2008 | Family

Sunday was different than we expected. My mom’s been dealing with health issues lately, staying at my brother and sister-in-law’s off and on for the last six weeks while she doctors and tries to regain her strength. Yesterday, Hiram and I went to their house for lunch. After lunch, we planned to visit an assisted living facility with Mom, then discuss with her what she wants to do for the next six months – go to the facility or stay with my brother and sister-in-law.

We got down there, and Mom had already decided to stay with them this fall and winter. A look at the calendar told us we’d better move clothes and furniture immediately while we had the chance – the next several weekends are booked and busy. So we canceled the appointment at assisted living, loaded Mom in the truck with John and followed them forty miles to her house, with a brief stop at our place to exchange our car for Hiram’s pickup.

Three hours later, we were done loading, driving and unloading Mom’s car and two trucks full of Mom’s stuff. Whew! When we were done, we celebrated this new stage of Mom’s life with ice cream sundaes.

Mom won’t make final decisions about her house until next spring. Her health has improved somewhat in the past few weeks, so by next spring she could be ready to live there again. If you’d like to celebrate this temporary move with her, email me and I’ll send you her contact information. She’s had lots of changes lately and many more to come, and she’d love to hear your familiar voice on the phone.