One Week To Go!

At home near Fort Worth, Texas...(but not for long!)

I wonder if we'll make it? By the time the house sale closes next week, we will have been purging for 21 solid days, which may be some kind of record for the fewest days spent on such a project!

If we had had our right minds, it would have been 21 months! I've lost count of the number of trips we've made to donate stuff at the church thrift shop. Also uncountable have been the trips to the storage unit, where we drop off things that will also likely be jettisoned when we're able to think clearly again. And no one except the trash collectors know how many bags of trash they have picked up from the curb. It seems inconceivable that we have downsized twice before in years past. If we hadn't, I think I would just climb in a garbage bag and leave myself for pickup.

The kids will drive up from Conroe and join us this weekend for a visit. Once they're here, they will be presented with a rental truck onto which Tyler and Carlos--our handyman--will load an early inheritance. These items will consist of things Mindy has claimed and others that we think they might use. (We've cunningly boxed up the latter, so they can't tell what they are.) Then Tyler will drive the truck back to their place in Conroe where they will perform a triage of their own; and who knows what they will keep? I know we don't care; we're just glad it's going away. 

Adding to the chaos are the innumerable address changes to show our new mail drop as the Escapees facility in Livingston, the transfer of our utilities to the new owners, the servicing of Phannie and Mae, as well as doctor and dentist visits for both of us. We have also arranged a couple of sessions with the new owners to familiarize them with all the electronic gadgetry associated with the security, video surveillance and entertainment systems. I'm afraid this might be a bit of a challenge, as it would for anyone not accustomed to today's technology. I think I have most of the owner's manuals for these things, so maybe leaving these behind will help. We've also assured the new owners that we are only a phone call away. They are a very nice couple, about our age, who have a 36-foot Winnebago Tour. The house will be perfect for them, and they are excited.

With all that's going on, we have had little time to think about the radical change in our life that will take place in only a week. I'm sure it won't really hit us until we pull away from our neighborhood for the last time and head Phannie toward the warmth of south Texas. However bewildered we may be then, I'm pretty sure it won't last long. 

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; please forgive me if I don't appreciate it enough each day.