Moving

Okay. I cried the other day as I stood on my porch. I was saying goodbye to my house/home. It was a sunny/misty rainy day? My favorite kind. Light rain with the sun still shining. There are these trees as high as the sky in the back area......and the sun catches the leaves and they shimmer....and the grass was as green as it EVER gets. And my rhodies were standing tall......you forget the work, the water we hated so much, the cost..you just breathe in that air and it sounds like the ocean sometimes. that rustling sound. There is no one around because you can't see but traces of the road through the trees......and I remember how I didn't notice the flaws in the house or anything else when we bought it. I thought of the Halloween parties, the pool parties, the summer events....the loudness of the sheer joy coming from kids.....the Girl Scout meetings.

But as we emptied the house I saw the dismalness of the building. Of course with boxes piling for weeks housework was almost nil and some places hadn't been accessed for a month or two BECAUSE of the boxes and THAT was embarrassing if you know what I mean. Bill is a welder and the things he can do with metal are truly amazing. I have seen him make things for people that put me in awe. That said, he kind of sucks with wood. LMBO So his molding skills and fixing things like that were not the best. And the shop caused us a fight once a month at least because to me your shop has to be at least liveable. Seriously you NEVER saw a place like that. :O

Hey, I am 49 now and kind of content with my family and a small place to take care of. We had money from not making the house payment and Dad gave me a bunch so we were able to buy a really gorgeous shower curtain and liners, new rug, new aquarium (small inexpensive like the one she has but CLEAN and not rusted from the water) new bedding for Sadie, a knife set with wood block now that we don't worry about the knives rusting in the water....stuff like that, you know. I figured psychologically it would help us all. And it does. There is a big storage closet as you walk in.....two bedrooms, the bath which let me tell you I am STILL trying to downsize two bathrooms into one, hence the box on the floor......an L shaped area which has my desk, dining table and living room. The laundry room is large and lots of shelves and storage area. The kitchen is the tiniest ever but I am loving it.

I am smack in the middle of Meridian Street. The horror street that congests badly in puyallup BUT now I am halfway down either way if that makes sense...so it isn't so bad? I try to make use of the trips back and forth to school by throwing in trips to the post office, shopping etc. No more Graham post office......the suckiest one in America. The one a couple of blocks away from me is even open on SATURDAYS. And Sarah is five minutes away. Access to that granddaughter of mine.....the thing is that she can make me smile in five seconds no matter what. Is there anything more precious than a 20 month old child?

We have told Sadie that she transfers at the end of the semester. I just think it is for the best. I am saddened to see all the girls that used to be at our house, all the girls that were so treasured when young, turn out to be so superficial and some downright mean to Sadie. It confuses her but I know what it is. She is slower to change. She spends a huge amount of time on her hair straightening it but doesn't like any of the clothes/makeup things of the other girls. And she has a big heart which we all know leads to more pain.

I have always taught my girls that when all else fails we all have each other. It is a protective thing on my part, I know......but moving to WA was really hard on Sarah and I. Knowing that you have your parents, your sibling, your dog....that gives us a cocoon, wouldn't you say?

Getting used to a small lock mailbox will mean lots of trips to the office or post office considering my mail usage....the garbage is a walk away. And they only recycle cardboard. So the test begins. How commited am I really to 20 odd years of recycling when it becomes work to do it?

My very favorite things are around me and my family is beside me. What more could a person ask for? I have one lawn chair, two potted azaleas, two gorgeous glass hard-to-describe hanging decorations, and soon two bikes squeezed on our patio. And we are trying to see if the baby's swing that was hanging from our porch will work here. And in the midst of it all is this pretty concrete angel holding flowers that a dear friend once sent me for my garden.

Here it is. Another adventure.