life transitions

There it is - May 2, 2013 in the northern climate.  No wonder a person wants to move to Arizona.

After all the commitments have been made, the thought occurred that we've been in the same place for 30 years, so no wonder I was ready to move on.  Other than the eight years in LaPorte, home has averaged maybe 2 years at best, as if we're nomads, and we just got stuck here in Hudson 31 years ago.

There was never any real desire to move until 6 weeks ago.  I told the family my plan was to die here and they'd have to clean things out, knowing that we'd accumulated way too much stuff just by failure to clean house from time to time.  But that's the reality of things.  I wonder how often I have purchased and used a tube of caulk, for example, and though I used less than a quarter of it, the tube was set aside with the understanding that at some point in the next six months I very likely would need it again.  Then I'd forget that I had it.  I've found a lot of that stuff in the last two weeks.

Or a toy used by the first grandchild was set aside after he grew out of it, and by the time any other grandchild would want to use it, that article, too, is hidden somewhere that I've forgotten about.  Thus the last few weeks have been a time of re-discovery, shall we say.

Honestly, the mental process of "choosing to dump or take" has been much easier to undertake after going through Dad's stuff following his funeral.  The good news for him was that he had been downsizing and eliminating over a period of years and there wasn't all that much stuff left, but he had a tendency to keep odds and ends that by themselves had absolutely no value.  At one point he was in his room at the nursing home just adamant that Kathy needed to bring to him a plastic case with a variety of tools - in case he needed "to fix something."  Ignoring, of course, that the maintenance operation at LRH would take care of it for him.

I looked at that case as we did our "distribution" and didn't particularly see anything of value in it for me at least, as important as it was for him.  The entire experience led me to understand that at some point in time my own family would be picking through my stuff and they, too, would wonder why the heck I was keeping what I did.  So our garbage can is filling with stuff that is not worthy of being dropped off at Good Will.

Now the drill has been changing to the prep and setup of 3542 E Velasco St.  So I have:

• made contact with SRP, electric utilities, to put it in our name - so we can be drip-watering the existing plants and two orange trees;
• hooked up the water service at Diversified Water, again for the drip-watering;
• confirmed a setup date for the beginning of waste pickup through Right Away Disposal;
• solicited three bids for Homeowners Insurance and selected Farmers in Apache Junction;
• purchased a new refrigerator at the local Home Depot for delivery on or about June 12;
• contacted three different pool companies for a proposal for the back yard;
• called Rural/Metro Fire Department for enrolling in their fire protection service at $521/year for a service not provided by a local municipality;
• set up a move with DirecTV (with the NFL Package for free - woo-hoo go Packers!);
• connected with CenturyLink for internet service that apparently is DSL but is at a discount since it's bundled with DirecTV;
• tried to set up an account online with the Laredo Ranch HomeOwners Association, with no success since they don't show us as the owners yet, I suppose
• selected National Van Lines for the move, at $2,300 less than either competitor;
• made hotel arrangements all the way to STV for the road trip down June 8 - 11;
• received permission from Mr Wookey to stay at his place during the transition from arrival in STV to the arrival of the National Van;
• and purchased the return flight for Dana and Marni, our driver companions.

I think when we moved to Laurel Avenue we just showed up one day in 1985, at least that's all I can recall.

This morning on a talk show I heard an author/journalist commenting on the book written by Sheryl Sandberg, the whiz kid COO at Facebook. Sandberg speaks in her book of professional struggles and attainments of women.  The journalist was reflecting on the differences between the two of them, and then said, "You know, her book is all about work, and I wonder if she's ever given any thought that she's going to die."

Maybe that was in the back of my head when I was seized by this move, this transition in life.  For all the nonsense that goes into the process, I have been of a notion that there must be something better than where I am today, that living here is NOT all that attractive to me, especially as we see less and less of the family as they reach out, there's no work life that carries me around the country as I did for several years, and Hudson still does not seem like "home" to me. For whatever reason, that's the way it is.

I'm going to die, like everyone else, the family will need to clean out what's left at some point, and I just prefer that it not be when I am in my 90s.  I have thought 87 would be good, since I hopefully would retain most of my faculties until that time, but like a fellow said to me once, "You may reconsider that when you're 85."

Humor aside, there's no time like the present to make one last fling, and Arizona is it.  We have a lot of remodeling to do, but with a little imagination you can see a pool in the photo below, and there will never be any snow here, at least for very long, compared to the photo above.  What's not to like?

Think pool - right about here, after the curb and sidewalk are gone and the trees have been moved

Probably won't be an Olympic-sized pool.  :(  Hope Dana likes it.