Making Arrangements
We were camping near where our home is now. Peter drove our pickup truck,hauling the camper while I sat with Michael in our other car. Time alone with Michael is one of my most favorite things in the universe.
Anyway, still retaining a somewhat shocked expression on their faces, Michael and Peter quickly and efficiently set up the camper and unpacked all the food and cooking things they brought. They did this as if they were one person; in fact, they had done it many times before. As usual, they did all the work while I sat and relaxed. They treat me like a queen and they also call me a witch, but the best kind of witch because I make good things happen. This was the ultimate white-witch moment. I put my blessing on the move upstate and everything was different.
All the things I was afraid of regarding camping didn’t happen. I slept deeply at night, took walks, met new people, all the while discussing questions about how we were going to manage this move. It was very, very easy to plan which made me even more sure that the time was right.
Michael had one more year of high school; we wouldn’t leave Media until he graduated. I had my counseling degree so during the coming year I would investigate the job market. While my assignment was to find a job–Peter had his business–he would take over selling our house.
It turned out like a ballet or maybe–closer to home–a well-rehearsed square dance!
I found my job in March of 2001, went upstate by myself with my cat on March 31st. We were renting a house nearby because our house hadn’t been sold yet; we also knew what house we were going to buy–the one we live in now. So I had some lonely weeks, knowing absolutely nobody here and my poor cat was traumatized by this. When I returned from work she would just sit there and cry. Weird things happened, stress-related; I locked myself out of my car at work one day. It was the first time I’d done that. I hurt my thumb and it became red and infected. Small things but keep in mind that I was doing something pretty difficult, on my own. However I was happy to be away from money-choked Media. When people use bulldozers here it’s to help a neighbor pull a truck out of a swamp.
I was proud of myself; my cousin Maxine (the first piece of mail I received here was a letter from her. It arrived the day I moved in.) couldn’t take it in. The solitary part amazed her but as I always say, I like my own company. But there was one bad thing that will always be there; I don’t think I should have brought Nina, my cat, with me. She lived in terror. I was crying one day on Michael’s shoulder, saying that I was going to burn in hell because of what I did to her. Michael, never a one to make me feel stupid or dumb, reassured me that Nina had a good life and I had done the best with her that was possible.
lgmwriting 