Long Week So Far

I just didn’t’ know how draining it was going to be to remove the remnants of “stuff” out mom’s house. When we left, a year ago, we had our memories carefully packed away and furniture covered. You can’t leave a house empty for a year without some problems. In our case, it was a massive water leak in the basement. Our good friends took care of it but we realized that something had to be done with the house. We now have our friends moving in and they are going to live in it.

We spent this week going through our packed memories and saying good-bye to some. When I handed over my grandmother’s silverware, it hit me hard. I don’t’ remember, I wish I could remember, but then again remembering might be a bad thing. My memories are fragmented. I have poor long-term memory and my short-term memory is heading the same direction. I might not remember the story but I remember the emotion. Therefore, each item I had saved earlier might not have a memory but it has an emotion. A demitasse is my grandmother’s fragility something she rarely showed. My father’s hat is power and helplessness. A ceramic heron is Hermit’s Hollow – peaceful. It was difficult, emotionally, to go through each item carefully. I am happy with the few boxes I packed and after a long night sleep, I felt rejuvenated.

Hannah and I have often heard the soft whirl of dad’s wheelchair after his death. His presence in his beloved house is always there. His mother and he built that house and it was definitely theirs. Mom had absolutely no say in the building of the house. She just watched it being built and concentrated on running the business. It was never her house; it was always dad’s house. So saying good-bye to her home was not hard. It was the memories she had, some were easy to purge but the memories of the good times with the kids made it a little difficult. I realize it was my childhood home but I have no sentiment to the house and I am not emotionally tied to it. It was the little things that I collected as an adult that was difficult to part with.

I keep a small box that travels with me. Inside this box is a small brass statue of Ganesh, a shard of Mayan pottery, a small brass pelican, a lock of hair, and other miscellaneous items that have great sentimental value. If anyone should come across it after I am gone, they will think it is a voodoo spell.

Mom and I also decided to take Granny and Dad off the mantle. I had read Jolie’s blog about her mother passing and it helped with the decision to have them interred. We found a cemetery that has a small pond and we bought a plot there. Their wish was to be scattered and everything kept simple. We were able to honor the simple part. They will have a small plaque with just their names and at the bottom of the plaque; it will read “mother and son.” They were inseparable during their lives and they will be together in death.

Surely Not had her 6-month check-up and she is a spry old lady. She also has sensitive toenails. Every toenail that was clipped she screamed as if she was in agony. Dr. Tichy has been her vet since we got her and so he was use to her screams of agony. Her coughing eased when we were in South Padre Island and so the only recommendation he gave us was “move to the beach.”

It was great seeing the kids again and I stopped by the office, where I use to work and saw my ex co-workers. We also spent a day goofing off as evidenced by the slide show I put on.

The Internet, at this park, is spotty. During a thunderstorm, it works great. Clear skies mean limited to no connectivity. Overcast days means you have a fifty fifty chance of it working. I can tell the weather by my Internet service, this is a first.

Today is house-cleaning day and then we will go home. We plan to check out a couple of local cemeteries before leaving. Hopefully, we will be on the road next week looking for our next adventure. I will try to post but it scares the holy ned out of me to turn this on during a thunderstorm.