Homeless

Our Mesa home closed today and now someone else owns it. I have emotions around that, but I'm too tired to explore them now. We still have possession until Friday, which is great because Art The Plumber has been working on the water leak that started yesterday--when I owned this house. As much as I would like to have passed this off on the new owners, there are reasons I didn't. More importantly, hopefully I will have water for the first time in 24 hours at some point. A shower awaits. 

All of our worldly possessions are in one of three places: packed in my living room (which is where I am, on the couch that was brought up from the basement) waiting for the uhaul tomorrow or in a pod on its way to Texas--this includes most of our furniture and who knows what else. We will see the pods, "on or before January 7." I can't find the Christmas presents, so we might be celebrating a tad late this year. Apparently Buckaroo put all his clothes into the pods as well, so he might be wearing the same outfit for the next three weeks.  

The third place we have our belongings is on a truck right now. We shipped two of our cars. My friend Wendy was over when this happened today. The sketchy-looking drivers showed up, a bit disorganized (insisting the cars were going to Dallas) and I was pleased the neighborhood children were nowhere nearby. They spoke as much English as I did Spanish, so our conversation had a few holes. Buckaroo took covert pictures of their ADOT number and license plates. One of the drivers dropped a document stated, "released on recognizance," that was in his possession and provided his parole officer. Additionally, the drivers were adamant I hand over the titles to the cars--I didn't. Wendy theorizes I have a 50/50 chance of getting my cars again. I am not sure I disagree. 

Right now the rest of the family is grabbing dinner while I babysit Art The Plumber. Tomorrow we load the Uhaul, drug the cat and head East.  

Home to House

I've been processing the new home we've bought. I think it will do. For now. Or maybe for a longer now. I bought because of the location. The house is a mile from Marty's new job. It is close to everything we need (except Trader Joe's--that's in Dallas). The neighborhood is desirable, clean and well-maintained. The house has a few flaws I don't care for (like lack of storage and it needs another room). But those can be fixed. I can't fix location. 

Incidentally, the house is fine. The home inspection came back clean. And that is saying something for a 17 year old house. Our list of repairs was this: have the HVAC serviced and have the place professionally cleaned. That's it. There was no broken widget. No flux capacitor that needed to be replaced. The roof is great. The plumbing and electrical were flawless. 

My true issue with my new house is it isn't my home in Mesa. I love the house I live in now. I raised my babies here. It has been a great place for my Littles and a new generation of Littles to play hide and go seek and build forts. My kids learned to swim and read in our home. There was tears, laughter and a lot of love shelled out here. 

Every morning I look at the Texarkana house inventory to see if we missed out on a better house. So far we haven't. From what I can tell we got the best house for the money, and for that I'm grateful. I just hope it can be a home. 

Unemployed

 Yesterday, after more than 9,000 days, Marty Sunshine left his job. I asked him if he had any regrets and wanted to go back. Nope. He's good. His interactions and meetings this past week with New Boss solidified his decision, with the rest of Marty's team encouraging him to run as far as possible. Incidentally, New Boss is losing three more people before mid-January--two of whom aren't giving their two week notice until the last week of December when the office is closed.   

It was also Polly's last day at her job--a bittersweet moment for her. She wasn't there too long but loved her job.   

Buck's last day is Friday, only because Marty and I insisted he quit a week before the move so he could help us. I'm also sorry he has to quit. He has really grown with this job. 

   

My Day with Dad

In addition to trying to pack up my house, coordinate 2 zillion things and say good bye to lots of folks, I've been on Dad-sitting duty for the past two days. I don't mind Dad-sitting, but the necessity came at a really bad time. And before someone asks, I would like to clarify: Squirrel and I have tried bringing in others to Dad-sit. I doesn't go well. 

Yesterday I took Dad to the Phoenix Genealogical Society meeting in downtown Phoenix. Dad doesn't drive any more and hadn't made a meeting since May. Before that he hadn't missed a meeting in five years. 

When I went to pick him up I noticed he was wearing long pants and his dress sandals. His hair was sorta-combed and he was hoping I wouldn't notice he didn't have his cane as he walked out the door (I noticed). He was complete with a binder full of notes. When we arrived, he asked me to pull up to the curb instead of parking the handicapper spot, lest his peeps saw him in that kind of compromising position.   

Turns out Dad is kind of a demigod with this gang. I knew he'd completed my family history back to the 1500s but I had no idea how well regarded he was among the genealogical-types. 

Dad walked in to people shouting his name. Think Norm from Cheers, but with senior-citizen family historians. He took his rightful place in the front middle and introduced me as, "This is my daughter. She's moving to Texas," which then became my name for the rest of the meeting.  

Dad was chatty--chatty for Dad--and reminisced with two women about a few interesting tid-bits that I wasn't aware. Such as my father did construction work at the sanitarium in Fairfield or Pitsfield VT--I missed that part. I was too busy watching Dad be social (My brother called me a liar when I reported this). When it came time to vote on next month's topic (haunted cemeteries along Route 66 or haunted hotels along Route 66), he had an opinion (it was unanimous--cemeteries). 

Squirrel and I were a bit concerned how tired he would be after the meeting, but Dad did well. I'm guessing he went home and slept the rest of the day. Squirrel took the late afternoon/evening shift so I'm sure I will get a report eventually. 

As for me, I had a blast learning a bit more about my father and our family history. I was also pleased he remembered I was moving to Texas, because last week, he'd completely forgotten. Today we have breakfast and a doctor's appointment. That won't be nearly as fun for Dad or me. But I'm happy to do it.  

After 18 Years

 

I closed my brokerage today and placed my license as inactive. 

At some point I will be ok. But not yet. 

Texarkana First Impressions

I made it back from my Texarkana trip with a a bit more confidence about this move. We have a house that will work for us. It has some imperfections (no linen closet--which will be remedied after we move in) and it has many pluses--including it was for sale. That isn't something one finds very often these days. There were five offers, ours was chosen. 

We also now have appliances, which were bought on Friday afternoon after dragging Bliz, once again, back to Home Depot and Lowes. By the way, Texarkana has a Home Depot and a Lowes. Also by the way, the sales folks at Home Depot and Lowes were concerned I was moving there from California. Read what you want into that.

Texarkana also has alligators. I saw one on Saturday. It was in the water, I was up on a bluff, overlooking the lake, eating a sandwich after dropping Bliz off at the airport. 

The airport is all the way across town (to the East) from my new house: 8 miles. 

The lake where the alligator lives is also across town (this time to the North): 8 miles. 

The Mexican food is meh--at least at the place Bliz and I went. There seems to be a few places to chose from. 

The city of Texarkana offers a much slower pace. I was able to turn left in heavy traffic without endangering my life. In fact, "heavy traffic" means three cars on the highway. Drivers are courteous on the road, everyone takes turns and not once was there a car on my bumper. I wouldn't swear to it, but it might be a law there to wave to other drivers as they pass each other through the traffic circles. There was no litter or graffiti that I saw--something that seems to be running rampant here in Mesa. They don't have a Costco, but they have a Sam's Club. They also have the world's smallest Hobby Lobby. 

Oh yes! In the four days I was driving around I used up a third of a tank of gas. When I went to fill up the rental car, the gas price was $2.79 a gallon. 

Decisions

 A friend who had spent many years overseas once told me that when they moved back to the US, they spent as much emotional energy on buying a minivan as they did buying a toaster. 

As I stood in Lowes today, looking at the rows of appliances, I thought of my friend. All the washers and dryers looked alike. Would the LG hold up better cleaning Buckaroo's stinky socks? Would the Maytag's delicate cycle be gentle enough to handle Polly's dresses? Did I need new fangled technology or would the traditional model work just as well? And let's talk about freezers and refrigerators while we're at it! 

Bliz, who was kind enough to come with me on this trip, watched my head explode right in front of the stove display. She offered no opinion, and probably was secretly recording the entire thing so that someday I will be Youtube famous. 

I feel like all I have done for the past week is make decisions. What to pack. What to throw out. Who to call for help. Where to live. What to buy. When to sign. Every decision has the same weight. There is more of this kind of thing to come. I am honestly overwhelmed. Today the mover's representative hung up on me when I asked her to call back next Monday because I just did not know what I needed and when. It wasn't her turn for a decision. I was still suck on what color of white I wanted my dryer to be. By the way, in the end I didn't buy any appliances, which means I will be back at the store tomorrow for round two.