Since I accepted the offer from the University of Tennessee, I've been thinking endlessly of all that had to be done. Packing, arranging for a place in Knoxville, checking out the various options for toting my belongings across the country, etc.
But that's not all. Because not only am I moving but Maddie and Randi are moving as well, into the W Street cottage next door to Heidi and Danny. And the amount of work needed on those cottages boggles the mind.
All this is happening at once. To say I have been, and continue to be, overwhelmed, is quite the understatement. Roll that in your cigar and smoke it, General Sherman.
As I write today, after three continuous weeks of work, Maddie and Randi (hereafter referred to as Mandi, in the grand tradition of Brangelina and Shamy) are now living in their cottage with three cats and our wonderful Penny, whose custody they share with Heidi and Danny (hereafter referred to as Dandi). Dandi have three cats of their own, which means that the property Reiner meant to keep pet free is now home to six cats and a dog. Can't win 'em all, Reiner.
We have started the arduous process of painting the interiors of the cottages, having finished the bedrooms in Mandi's cottage and the bathroom in Dandi's. Reiner "Spackle Boy" Herbon purchased all the supplies we could ever dream of and even helped out some; his insistance on the use of spackle as the remedy for all structural and cosmetic blemishes in the cottages earned him his nickname. In the interest of full disclosure, I will confess that the rest of us had nicknames as well: Heidi "Crazy Cat Lady" Herbon; Maddie "Tape Girl" Herbon; Lorraine Dias "Paint Hair" Herbon; and Randi "Muscles" Owens.
In between days spent painting have been days spent packing. I honestly believed that when the girls and I moved to the Sumerlin Ranch ten years ago that we had drastically downsized. Apparently, we did not--and we added lots more stuff during our residency at the little house in Elk Grove. Between the cottages and the house, we needed eight trips to the dump as well as donating mountains of stuff to Goodwill and other charities.
How to re-energize after a tough day
Another way to unwind
"Draw me like one of your French girls, Jack."
As I expect to be gone at least five years, I needed a storage place to house things I will not take to Knoxville. This, sadly, includes my 1910 upright player piano. As though it had a mind of its own, that blessed instrument stubbornly refused to be moved. While it obstensively has four wheels on its legs, you'd never know it by the way it tried to cling to each surface it passed over. It had a wild ride in a moving truck to the storage place--the wildness may have been my fault. While I think I drove the truck exceedingly well, neither Maddie nor Heidi would ride with me after the initial drive. Thank goodness for Randi. And, now that the piano is neatly tucked away in its temporary home, I can paraphrase Scarlett O'Hara by saying, "As God is my witness, I'll hire movers for the piano next time."
With all the big stuff out of the house, yesterday it was time to move into the storage unit that will be my home for the next six weeks. After being on my own for over thirty years, I'm back home with the parentals. But this time I am living in a tin box (O.K., well, their motorhome) in the driveway between my childhood home and my parents' "crap house." One day I think I'll write extensively about the crap house, but lets just suffice to say that it is the small house next door to my parents which they purchased because they have too much crap for their own two-story, four-bedroom house.
The first night in the tin can didn't go too badly, although I couldn't figure out how to get the cool air outside to come inside until well after midnight. I'll be snug as a bug, though, once I get everything figured out.
Much remains to be done, including more painting on the cottages, clean-up and sale of the Sumerlin Ranch, and, eventually, the cross-country trip to my new digs, my new job, my new academic challenge, my new life. I wonder if I should take up drinking?
When did you stop drinking? What an exciting adventure you are starting.
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