It has been a whirlwind of a month so far! If I hadn’t had my I-phone to be connected to the world while we were getting moved and internet set up I think I might have lost my mind. Facebook has become such a big part of my life. Regardless of whether you like it or not (Joe hates it) it is the quickest way to stay in touch with people you would probably have lost touch with due to distance and time. Need prayer…facebook. Have something good to share ? facebook. I have come to the conclusion that facebook and my iphone are my favorite things. The best part is they take up no room in the RV and so I didn’t have to give them up like I did so many of my other treasures.
Moving day was frantic. I woke at 8:30 a.m. and flew into action. The realtor called and was sending an insurance man to take pictures (talk about last minute on the part of the buyers) and the buyers had decided to do a last minute final walk through. We had most everything out but I was hoping for a little time to walk through and “say goodbye” to a house that had been my home since 2001 when Mike and I divorced. No time for that! We kicked into high gear unhooking computers (the last of the “to take”) stuff and loading the car with the last minute things.
I put my cell phone on the counter along with Quincy’s collar and my car keys so I wouldn’t misplace them. Shortly thereafter when I went to get my cell phone and the collar that only the car keys were where I had left them. I accused Joe of moving my phone which he said he didn’t. I said not to worry it was probably in my purse. But it wasn’t. I thought maybe it was on a window sill since no furniture remained to set it on. It wasn’t. I told him to call me and went out to the Uhaul, climbed in and began to listen to the last boxes we had put in that morning. Nothing. Admittedly, I was a little stressed out and frantic about the move, the buyers dropping by, the insurance guy wandering through my house. I knew my heart was pounding, even feeling weird. But chalked it up to the stress. Then I realized that the buzzing was not my heart but my cell phone which I had put in my bra. When one of your breasts begins to vibrate, take notice. How the cell phone got from ring to vibrate I don’t know. I was just glad to have it back in my hands.
Joe had loaded his car with the last of the “trash” that wouldn’t fit in the trashcan to make a run to the city dump. He had put boards, sheetrock remnants etc. in his car the night before. After the close, which went relatively smoothly I headed to the bank with the equity check and Joe headed to the dump site. Little did he know he had loaded a wasp nest when he put the trash in his car. Driving down the road to the dump he was swarmed by some angry wasps. I think I probably would have ran off the road. But not Joe. He is the most calm and stable person I have ever known. He simply rolled down the window, pulled over and let the wasps out of the car and continued on to the dump.
The plan (if there is such a thing) was to drive to Vinita to pay for the RV with the proceeds from the house sale then follow the RV back to Tulsa from there. Change of plan when Joe’s brother in law offered to go ahead and deliver the RV and do the paperwork/money transfer at the new location. Which we had reserved the week before. LOT 160. The same lot Joe had lived in before. The lot that I had changed roughly 20 addresses to on line and turned in a forwarding order to the post office.
When we arrived, there in Lot 160 was a 5th wheel. Parked, hooked up. At first I thought “wow it looks much smaller here”, then “wow Jode made record time delivering it since he was coming from Vinita and we were coming from Muskogee, then well CRAP!, somebody is in our space. At this point it was a mere inconvenience of not having the space we had chosen…..then I realized that I was gonna have to change a whole bunch of addresses!!!! We went to the office to inquire what had happened. Seems they rented lot 160 to a dyslexic RV’r. They told him to put his RV in lot 106…didn’t realize he had mixed up the number until he was hooked up and off to work. Our choice was to wait for him to get off work and move it (not a good options since by this time Jode had arrived with our RV and was waiting to drop it off, hook it up and head back to Vinita). So we had to choose another lot. Which actually turned out to be much better. Lots of shade! And the railroad track right behind is just a short loading track that has trains about 2 times a day and nothing after 5. I can handle that.
The uhaul didn’t get totally unloaded that day. For one thing, it was apparent when I walked in the RV that the “stuff” I couldn’t live without was not gonna fit and short of getting another RV and connecting them together somehow (that would be cool actually) I was gonna have to do one more round of “emotional cleansing”. Which is what the whole process felt like. It wasn’t so much the things but the sentiment attached to the things. And some came down to a matter of practicality. How often to I make Waffles and how often have I used the Wok? Once a year and never. Goodwill. How often do I use the blender and when’s the last time I used the punch bowl. Blender…rarely but at this point frozen margaritas are sounding good (kept the blender). Punch bowl? Well I did use it once in 1999 when I had a baby shower for a friend. Goodwill it is. Once the living room was wall to wall, stacked to the ceiling tubs to go thru we called it a day.
Now the first thing you want to do after a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng day of moving in 110 degree weather is take a nice shower. Turned it on. Turned it off. Seems there was a water leak under the kitchen sink. No water tonight Honey are not the 4 words you want to hear when you are sweaty and grimy and needing to wash away the day. Then it hits you. Water is needed to flush. Water is needed to make coffee in the morning, water is needed for EVERYTHING it seems when you don’t have it. I managed. I simply went to quick trip to use the restroom, got a large icy drink, a gallon jug of water. Then I went to sleep dirtier than I have ever been in my life. I don’t think I’d be a very good tent camper. Roughing it is not for me.
The next day started with a phone call from the realtor which I won’t go into. Suffice it to say he wanted us to pay for some additional repairs that the buyer had decided they wanted. This after we had given them a check for $500 for “NOTHING”. Nothing was found in the inspection, the final inspection or the 6 times they came to look at the house before buying it. The $500 was just to “help them get started” per the realtor. I have been mad about that since I agreed to it. Felt like blackmail. And he called me a liar in so many words. And insulted Joe. Not a good start to the day!
Next we wrestled furniture. Wrestling is an understatement. We pushed, shoved, cried (well I did), and measured in an attempt to get my wicker couch into the RV. When we gave up on that we decided to put the dining table in. Now….I had measured all this stuff. It will fit in the RV. It will not however, fit thru the RV door! Not happening. More emotional downsizing. Luckily for me, the couch and the table were meant to be outdoor furniture. I had just put it indoors because it was so nice and I liked the way it looked. Once Joe pointed out (wisely) that we have a really nice awning and could create a nice little couch and table area outside to enjoy our coffee at I was ok. Plus the 2 extra chairs I had fit now.
Now, I have admitted before to having what I call my once a year blow outs. The stress builds and builds and builds and I keep smiling through it, ignoring the “about to blow” feelings. Returning the Uhaul and being charged an extra day was not a problem. I expected and handled that gracefully. It was when they charged us an extra $14 fee for insurance for keeping it an extra day that I went a little “ballistic”. Had the clerk been a little nicer explaining the extra fee and had I not been feeling a little cranky because I hadn’t showered in 2 days, I might have been able to hold it in and put off the blowout for a few more weeks. Somehow, the heat, the dirt, the need to pee in my own home, where is that funky smell coming from , put everything back in place after the train (which feels like an earthquake) passes by , how dare you call me a liar, I am starving, and my cell phone is dead state of mind got the best of me. Joe came out of the bathroom rather quickly as a string of curse words exited my mouth and quietly said “honey why don’t you go out and wait in the air conditioned car and I’ll take care of this” which probably saved the rude, punk of a clerk a punch in the nose. And Joe has now witnessed a “who is this raving lunatic woman” and how can I put her back in the box and get my sweet wife back out” moment.
A trip to the RV supply store and the water/sewer being restored probably prevented a major melt down. Somehow, a nice shower and clean clothes solves everything.
I have successfully transformed into an RV’r. Today, at Walmart I shopped not according to value but according to what will fit into the tiny little thing called a refrigerator. I successfully put into a goodwill container my “hope clothes” as I called them…Hope I can get back into clothes (the ones that are too small) and the Hope I never have to wear that size again clothes . I now have a culled down closet of clothes that fit and that I have worn in the last year. I was doing worn in the last 5 years but then I remembered I am an RV woman now. LOL
I have determined that being free of all the stuff makes you feel pretty free. I have discovered that living in close quarters with Joe is pretty awesome..we are a match made in heaven. I have discovered that gigantic Ziploc bags are a lot more flexible than plastic tubs and fit in the storage under the bed rather nicely. That people in an RV park seem to be a lot friendlier than people in the neighborhood. Already I have been invited to coffee by the woman in lot 303. I know my neighbors name after 2 days. I have signed us up for the monthly pot luck dinner and offered to be the entertainment. I have paid off all my debts and though we are now broke again, we are debt free and happy. What a thrill it was to listen to the collection call people start flipping their pages to find what to say next when they asked “could you make a payment today” and I said “why yes, yes I can. I would like to pay off the balance and then you will never ever ever have to call and harass me again”. I have discovered that sometimes old friends are the best kind (thanks again Tom Lewis class of 76 and wife Sally) for taking Shelby in…I have discovered that sometimes change is good and its good to change. I have found that being unemployed is not all that bad as I sat drinking coffee yesterday mid morning with Joe at a little downtown hole in the wall café. I feel blessed to have had the job I had and work with the people that I worked with for 7 years. Now its time to find another place to call my work home. Exciting opportunities await. Can’t wait to find out where I end up. In the last year, I have been through a lot of changes. I went from single to married, employed to unemployed, house owner to RV owner, medium city to big city living, non insulin dependent to insulin dependent, the list goes on. I have been disappointed (I really really really wanted that role in the MLT play), I have been hurt (sometimes people that you think have your best interest at heart…don’t), I have been challenged . I have used my talents, made a lot of new friends, renewed a lot of friendships and made a lot of decisions.
Tomorrow when I wake up, in that small little room next to a man that I love, I know that I will feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I am truly, truly happy. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Love and blessings,
LeeAnn
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