The Year of Firsts~2015

Here we are all settled in Florida and loving our new home. I have so many things to share with you all that have been filling my head that I just decided today to get started. I've not published a story since we sold our home in Michigan and found this one in Florida. Much has happened since that early December day.

We packed a box or two or four every day until we got to the kitchen. That room we left until just a day before closing. Ah, closing. Yes, that was supposed to be December 29, 2014. It was actually January 11, 2015. Just eleven days too late to save us $1000 in property taxes on our new home. We didn't find that out until the middle of February when we filled out the paperwork for the deductions based on our age and income. It is applied January 1 each year. Crap!

The closing went well in Michigan and the next afternoon we closed in Florida after driving straight through. The movers came the next morning at 9 am and we were alone in our new house filled with boxes by dinner time. We ate out. The kitchen had a coffee pot and some cups and the food the movers brought.

Our bedroom and our bathroom were usable and we used them both. Slept like a baby. Waking several times through the night. But we were home.

As much as we love this life, we left much in Michigan and lost much there. Six months ago Momma passed in the house that is not our home anymore. I brought all the memories with me. Two days before we moved, our furbaby, Sadie, who would have turned 14 in May, died. We asked to have her ashes sent to us here. We have those with us, we have thirteen years of loving memories of her. We don't have her.

Two of our boys live in Michigan, a third is in Tennessee as is our daughter. Six of our grandchildren are in Michigan. We left them but not their love. We brought that and plans for the future with them and texting keeps them in our lives, but we don't have them here.

We left life-long friends in Michigan. Hoping some will come down and visit at some point. We left newer friends that may drive or fly down one day, but there's no promise of that. It's sad to think about, but for thirty-three years we have planned for and wanted this life and we have it now.

We have met some nice people here in the neighborhood and at some businesses, but we are basically alone. Roomy and me and our Jake. He is turning 15 in May. Since it's just us three, we find he is with us as often as possible on our errands or making trips to the park where he can chase birds and bark at people.

This is where we belong. No question in our minds. As we just celebrated our 33rd anniversary by visiting with and mourning with Roomy's side of the family saying good bye to the oldest brother, the first sibling to pass. He was the family patriarch and we all miss him. Already a quick trip back to Michigan for a funeral. A sibling funeral. Nothing reminds you of your own mortality faster than that.
Nothing reminds you how much you love your siblings faster than that. Every day matters. Every word you hear or say may be the last.

I was sure 2015 would be a year of firsts. I wasn't wrong. First time we've been alone, truly alone. First sibling death. First emergency trip to Michigan. Not all things I thought would be on my list of firsts.

On the brighter side, however, I wake every day now with a smile, of sorts. I'm not a morning person.
The sun shines in the bedroom window and I have only recently fallen into my sleeping late mode. I am back to my normal self. I sleep until 8 or 9 and I sit on the back porch and scroll FB and sip coffee and smoke. I start my day between 11 and noon and I smile a lot. I go to the Farmer's Market for fresh fruit, vegetables and the fish market for ocean fish and shrimp and scallops. I stop into the meat market for steaks once a month or so to grill. We eat out at least one day a week because there are just so many wonderful places to eat around us that we want to try them all. We do what we want, when we want for the most part.

We've had a couple of nice days with my brother and sister-in-law and have another one planned before they head back to the Chicago area for the summer. It's nice having them just a couple hours away, but they like the two home life and it's definitely not for us. We want this permanent house and our life to be here. To each his own and this is right for us.

I learned a great deal in this move. I learned more once we were making our new home. I will seriously write about all of that one day. It could be fun to do and might even be an entertaining and smile worthy read, but right now, I'm thinking it's time to get started on Momma's story. I am ready to start this process. I realize now that her story is never-ending. Her legacy, along with Dad's will live for generations to come because each of us carries her with us. The story can now be written as she watches over my shoulder with encouragement. She always encouraged me to write. I hope she motivates me through this new project of love.

Now in the middle of the third month of 2015, I am looking for and creating some really good firsts. Life style changes, back to writing and moving on with the rest of our lives...together, in Florida our paradise.

Jo