Women have powerful memories. A woman’s memory of relationships and emotions is incredible. One night last week Danine was going through Elise’s baby clothes as part of our big molting of stuff before the trip. She remembered particular events for nearly every outfit and item. She asked if I remembered how we put a Winnie-the-Pooh jumper on Elise backwards and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t fitting right. She held it up for me to see. I had no recollection. She remembered what Elise had worn on birthdays, on the trip home from the hospital, who gave us each article — she knew all of this and the basis for that knowledge was emotional. How she felt at that time, and her relationship with Elise at that time, conjured the memory. Amazing.
My memory is completely different. I have a good memory of all of my childhood, but it’s based on visual images. Only after picturing the images of a memory can I relate it to any emotions I had at the time. It’s the opposite approach. The mind is a whacky thing; there’s just no figurin’ it.
Danine’s emotional ties to inanimate objects (in this case clothes) is legendary. She cried whenever her parents got rid of a car. Once they had a sickly crabapple tree cut down while she was away. When she returned, she sat among the pile of branches and wept. Needless to say, the clothes sorting was a little tough. She did well, though, and now most of the clothes have gone on to a new little girl. Danine kept one box she couldn’t part with and on to storage it will go.
We had to get out of the house today. It was our first open house and the first day we did a fun family thing in a while (painting, caulking, cleaning, and sweeping do not count as fun family things). The good news is we’ve done all we can do to make the house ready for sale. The mediocre news is the house didn’t sell in one day. The better news is we had a good time at Great Falls!
Elise was busy picking up mussel shells, mixing “chocolate” (stagnant pool clogged with leaves), and — apparently — preparing to wade into the rain-swollen Potomac. It was a beautiful day and the paths were crowded. Perfect for Danine’s favorite past-time of people watching. We scrambled up to a nice perch overlooking the rapids just below the falls, ate snacks, and enjoyed the day.
It was a fine reprieve from house worries and reminded us why we want to take this big trip: to hike and hang out together and take in stunning sights.
My father, brother-in-law, cousin and uncle, God bless them all, have been a huge help these past few weeks. My dad and Bobby built a top notch railing by our basement stairs. My brother-in-law, Pat, and my Uncle Jack power washed our deck, patio, sidewalk and front steps. My cousin, Shannon, and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon painting our garage door. Shannon doesn’t live far away and I regret that we don’t spend more time together.
But still, we have too many things to do to the house. It has to be on the market this weekend. So today, Bobby and I called in the professionals. The landscaper will be here Wednesday and Thursday to take care of the outside. The furnace guy comes tomorrow, along with a painter we hope to hire. Wednesday, the plumber comes to put in a new toilet. And with the help of these professionals, we should be able to finish the job so ably started by my family.
So come see the house when it’s on the market. Better yet, buy it!
Right after making “more definitive plans” I go and change them. We are going to pick up our trailer at the end of April (28-30). We’ll go through the delivery process with our dealer on Sunday and then spend the night in the trailer on the lot in order to try stuff out and troubleshoot any problems. If all is in order, our dealer will tow the trailer about 70 miles to Hensley Mfg. Hensley makes an expensive but very well-designed hitch that will help ensure a safe and happy towing experience for us. They’ll install it and once we are hitched and able to make a few practice runs, we’ll brave the highways and head back toward Virginia!
I talked with our real estate agent on Friday, and she thinks we should get the house on the market sooner rather than later. I agreed, but that means we have two weeks to get all the little (and big) jobs done before we list it. It hit me like a punch in the stomach. This is the biggest part of the transition (so far anyway): selling our home. I went home Friday afternoon and started painting…and continued painting all weekend.
We also made more definitive trailer-pick-up plans. We’re going to Michigan the second weekend in April. We’re excited, but nervous about entering the unknown world of RVing (which, apparently, is a verb). The Trip (with a capital T) will be great, but this transitional stage is tough–lots to sort out and arrange.
Danine’s family is vacationing in Narragansett, RI, in August and her brother is getting married in Connecticut in September. So we’ll head North in August to meet up with them, swing up to Maine, and then head South after the wedding. It’ll be fun to do a New England jaunt. Hopefully we can go back to Mount Desert Island, where we honeymooned eight years ago!
