.... And a New Era Begins

Oh my, we made it - I am now moved, finally!  This past month has been so incredibly full, and I've missed updating here so very much.

June included:

- my 50th birthday!  My oldest daughter and her family conspired with the two youngest daughters and Michael to give me a surprise party out at a cabin in a national park a few miles away.  It's been a long, long time since that much of my family were all together in the same place at one time (not to mention, working together on something!)

- my youngest graduated high school.  A huge milestone for us both!

- she also had her 18th birthday - I am no longer the mother of any minors, after 30 years! wow.

- then there was the big yard sale to try to weed down some of the stuff we no longer wanted.  Hard work, yard sales!  It was successful enough - but it sure didn't eliminate the excess.

- right after that, Deanna headed out to Nebraska for the International Thespian Festival (and while she was there got to meet up with her big sister who lives out that way).

- While she was gone for the week, I was packing, packing, packing, and trying to figure out how minimally I could live, because anything I held out would have to fit into a small car when the time came.

- The day after she came home, it was time to get her moved out into her new living situation...no rest for the weary this June, no sir!

- and then THE MOVE.  Michael, my son-in-law, Deanna's boyfriend and one of his friends got a huge UHaul loaded up to the gills... a bit of panic at the end about what was possibly not going to fit. Aii... somehow they got it all in.

- Then Michael drove off with the truck, and headed to Maryland, and I stayed behind to give the house a good scrub (and crashing on my daughter's house at night).  Thank goodness for ipods - that was really boring.

- as soon as he unloaded, with he help of volunteering neighbhors, he had to hop on the Greyhound and spend a day coming back to wear I was (dizzy yet?).  One fitful night's sleep for us both and then...

- a whirlwind of final errands, a bit of time with the daughters to say goodbye, and we headed off in his (really packed full) car, and drove here, which is no longer 'his place' but HOME.

WHEW!

His mom had come up through all of this to watch his/our dog Sadie and generally help out, and I've really enjoyed getting to spend a little bit of time with her before she heads home tomorrow.

And then, the UNPACKING begins -  right now it looks like at least another month's work to do, getting these two households worth of stuff unpacked and put in order.  But I'm not worrying so much about that - a little at a time, and meanwhile, WE DID IT.

This has been many years in the making.  I miss my girls - but I am very very happy.