Life Renewed

As August begins to wind down, the usual sense of gloom and doom that I've had so often in recent years is not quite so desperate as it has been.  No more worries about the cold, ice, and snow - WOOHOO!  But.........the reality that we will be away from our children and grandchildren is beginning to seep in and I struggle to fight off thinking about the sadness that will set in when we say goodbye to those precious little ones. One memory that I will carry with me and keep close in my heart is the family weekend we had a couple weeks ago.  Cathi and Louie were in Vermont for a visit, and spent a night in our "guest accommodations"  (aka the garage!), and Lauren, Josh and Penny spent the weekend tent camping here at Lake Champagne.  Tim Jr., Katy, Lucy and Abe joined us all for a family cookout at our campsite, and we had an amazing time watching everyone laughing, playing, and just enjoying each other.  Lucy and Penny had a wonderful time playing together...

And, so, another chapter in the book of our life has ended.  This morning, the house that we had built in Brookline, NH back in 1998, was sold to a young family who could see the potential to fill it with all the love and laughter that we once had there.  We could tell from all the things they hope to do there that they will appreciate and love the house and property as much as we once did. We could not be happier about turning it over to them.  Yes, I shed a tear when the time came to say goodbye, but I think that only served to show them that we still love the place.  It was just time to move on. It's funny, but I couldn't help but realize that this really is a new chapter in our life.  That chapter, however, is getting down to the last third of our book, God willing.  And with that, the melancholy did set in.  You'll excuse me for the inclusion of this link, but it just seemed so apropos.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wte1uk4A5eU  ...

We arrived in Randolph Center, VT around noon on Saturday, July 1st, having just missed a drenching downpour (to the tune of about 4.49 inches of rain).  So much rain that, shortly after we made our way up I-89, part of the northbound lane between exits 1 and 2 gave way, opening up a huge sinkhole.  Thank heavens we missed that! When Tim went to check in, it seems that the reservation system had a bit of a hiccup and showed us arriving on the 10th, not the 1st.  This is not the kind of thing you want to see on a holiday weekend.  The campground owners could not have been more apologetic, and they were able to park us on an unoccupied seasonal site temporarily (the campers had not yet arrived for the season, but were expected in on the 5th).  So, we drove onto our temporary site...........and promptly sunk into the over-saturated ground!  The center jacks on the rig were below ground level - and they had not been deployed.  That meant we couldn't pull...

 This past week has been our goodbye tour, visiting all of our favorite haunts, and of course, saying goodbye to our remaining belongings in the house.  The estate sale sold quite a bit, but not nearly enough.  We had to hire a clean-out specialist to take out the rest of all that remained of 38 years of marriage.  Tim handled all of these chores - working with the estate sale folks, as well as the clean-out folks.  I just could not handle it emotionally.  Of the remaining items, one piece of furniture stung particularly to see  rejected by buyers:  The Ethan Allen hutch we bought for our dining room when we were married.  It was such a beautiful piece of furniture, and it was a source of pride that we had such a sturdy, quality piece in our meager newlywed home.  While it's aged in style (dark pine, early American), it is still a really lovely piece of furniture.  And, no one wanted it.  I was crushed, to say the least. ...

We’re on the final countdown for the estate sale – this Friday and Saturday – and after that, there’s nothing to do but clean up the floors with a good vacuuming and mopping, and then lock the doors.   The closing has been set for July 10 th , so *knock wood* we’ll be done with Brookline, NH for good at that point.   In the meantime, Tim has been meeting with the folks who handle the estate sale while they work on pricing out our belongings.   I can’t handle going back there while this is going on, for previously stated reasons.   I’ve made my peace with my choices on what comes and what goes, so there’s truly nothing to be gained by going back to look over everything.  We said our goodbyes to friends at church this past Sunday.   It’s not nearly as difficult this time as it was when we left St. Paul’s in VT back in 1995.   I’m not certain, but I do think I know why.   We only went to St. Paul’s for a little over 3 years, but it was deva...

After a month of living in our tiny home on wheels, it feels a bit like we've taken Alice's wild ride down the rabbit hole, compressed, compacted, and generally shrunken everything we can now own down to about 1/20 of what has been contained in 2670 square feet (plus the basement and garage).  Even as I continue to go through cabinets, drawers, and closets to ferret out the things that are supposed to go with us, I am still having to decide what we'll need, what we'll use, and what we absolutely cannot justify bringing with us.  That said, I've got until Thursday to make those choices, as the estate sale fellow will be at the house to begin going through everything for sale. Yes, the estate sale.  Where your belongings are priced to sell, people pick through your possessions like produce at a farmer's market, and you realize that your years of collecting, cherishing, and admiring things are nothing more than a moment in time to indulge yourself a bit.  Not tha...