By: Amy Cakebread
I just
love that boat!. We left Reggie, Roger
and stuff at Tina’s while we are gone.
Sunday we moved to Crystal and Bryan’s.
After a couple of hilarious IceBucket Challenges, we dropped Maddie off
at Barbara’s, the blue truck off at Dave’s, and got repacked for the air plane
ride scheduled for Tuesday morning. This
included picking up my re-fixed wedding ring, more shopping for incidentals,
contacting “letting” agents in Ireland, and a butt-kicking lap swim. We were so welcomed at Cry's and Bry’s. A kind of sneak peak at retirement, yes guys? Being there just solidifies my belief that we
need to find some land and build our homes side-by-side. Tina and Mike need to get on board with that
program too! We’ll make our own
“village”.
The girls have had another busy week! Let me tell you, they are sure to let us know
about how much they need a day off!
Piffle, I say. Life is to be
LIVED!
Monday the 18th, they had their routine doctors
visit then they stayed with Gramma where they chilled and played on the
deck. Both girls got shots at the
doctors. No matter how many times I’ve
done this with them, I really don’t think I’ll ever get used to watching
someone stick a needle injecting some person’s chemistry experiment into my
kids. It just feels like something a
good parent should prevent, not encourage.
Intellectually I understand that I am doing the right thing, but it’s
always weird to watch someone hurt my children in the name of prevention. I go all momma-bear on them. Anyway, Tuesday, they went to Silverton to
have a wonderful time making pancakes, baking cookies and bonding with
Grandpop.
Meanwhile, I packed up the RV to get ready to move it to
Tina’s house Wednesday the 20th.
It was quite a logistical adventure to get an RV, a boat, a blue truck,
a powerboat, a Yukon, 2 children, a dog, and a mending husband to Verboort with
Ker at work. I felt like I was living
that riddle with the fox, the chicken and a bag of grain. I couldn’t do it alone so I enlisted the help
of my Daddy [yes, I still need my Daddy] who, like always,
is first to volunteer to help out. I won
the father lottery for sure!
I packed us up and drove Reggie to Tina’s. Hooked up the electrical then immediately
left with Dad back to Hayden Island to pick up the blue truck. Being mindful of the horrific traffic on I-5
North that only let’s up in the morning, I drove like a maniac—what is new,
right?—back to the RV park to grab the blue truck and take my ****-ing iPhone
to the mall to get the battery fixed. Dad
went on to explore West Marine. But, I
know better than to go into that store; it’s bad on the wallet.
They dress more formally than our jeans/t-shirt standard in
Ireland so I used the technology-free “opportunity” to reluctantly do some
shopping at the mall while my iPhone was fixed.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that I lost interest in shopping for clothes quickly
(I despise clothes shopping and Ireland will just have to take me as I am cause
nothing is worth the hell of having to try on clothes, be unwillingly sprayed
by the reeking, hive-inducing perfume, all the while listening to the
combination of Mazak and ever present whiny, screaming children. That people willingly do this as much as they
can is beyond me!) and waited impatiently in the Apple Store for them to finish
replacing the battery.
Why impatiently? The
Apple Store triggers my anxiety no matter how much I try to control it. It’s so lowering to admit that spending more
than 30 seconds in that store—or Costco—can affect my mental health! Something
about the long white room crammed with people talking loudly just makes me
kinda (more?) crazy. So, after 5 minutes
of waiting, I’m jumping out of my skin and desperately trying not to show it. The internal conflict must show on the
outside (maybe it’s the crazy eyes coupled with the hair that must be standing
on end or the fact that I’m hugging myself and rocking in place?) because the
Apple Store employees always treat me like bomb dropped in their midst. It’s like they’ve been warned. They use their most quiet, patient, soothing
voices and are sure to use small words and speak slowly. Funny enough, I learned a lot about my laptop
in the time I was waiting thanks to the helpful staff member who used the
intricacies of iPhoto to talk me down from a panic attack.
This was the first time I have driven the blue truck in a
loooonnnnggg time. It’s not my rig—it’s
Ker’s—so I don’t usually think about using it.
I found out the hard way that the blue truck has no AC. Why do we own a vehicle that has no AC? And, why didn’t I know that that rig has no
working AC? Has this been kept from me
on purpose? Is it some kind of
conspiracy? Also, why do we own a
vehicle that sounds like the transmission is going to fall out and litter up
the freeway any second? Sentiment has to take a back seat to snobbiness, yes? Hmmmm, something I should ponder.
Back to the moving story (Tina, that was a pun! The “moving” part was the pun. You see, cause you can think of my story as
moving in the emotional sense of the word AND you can think of it as moving in
the physical sense of the word. Did you
get it? I wrote it on purpose to make
you proud). Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about taking the boat out of the
water. Ker, Devan and I took the boat
(Roger) out the night before. Ker drove
Bruce (the Yukon) and Roger to physical therapy and then picked up the girls on
his way to the storage unit. We used a
spare second or two to grab all the winter clothes and household items we would
need in Ireland. The storage unit is a
mess. I decided on the spot that it
would be in our (my!) benefit to sell the blue truck and hire movers to clear
storage hell when we get back. Don’t you
agree? Eek doesn’t even cover it.
Finally we made it out to Tina’s where I hooked up the RV so
we could spend some time wit da fam.
I really have an amazing family. All of them.
We couldn’t do this without their love, patience and support. Whether it’s Barbara, Sandy, Peter and Angela
who are willing to watch over dogs, vehicles and college-age children or Dad,
Mom, Tina, Mike, Crystal, Bryan and Jim who are always willing to lend a
helping hand, open their homes to us, my cat and our high level of chaos…it’s
just mind blowing how much these people have helped us in big and small
ways. I keep saying thank you, but
there’s just not enough ways to express how grateful we are.
We stayed at Tina’s Wednesday through Sunday morning. It was nice to spend the time between chores
together. We haven’t lived with someone
in a long time. They made it so easy. We even got to take Roger out for a last
hurrah on Hagg Lake on Saturday.
Not bad for 6 days!
Are you hunting wabbits? Or is there another weason it is so quiet on this bwog?
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