Last Day at 10 Southwood

 Ahhh… the quiet of our last day in our home. Just a few last-minute chores and tidying up before we leave in the morning. We will shower this afternoon and dress in our travel clothes for tomorrow so that everything we have worn can be washed and packed in our travel bags. We want to pack the car tonight so we can hop in the car and go early tomorrow morning.

As I sit write today’s blog – there are no cobwebs to be seen, door jams and light switches are free of fingerprints, all floors swept and mopped, and both bathrooms cleaned. So, Kim gets a fresh start as the home’s new occupant. Well Kim and her two cats. Alto will have her own feline family.

I caught Kim sitting on her new couch in the living room this morning (see photo below). She looks like she fits perfectly! She’s a perfect part of our hearts (Joe’s and mine) so it is only fitting that she can make this home her home. After we chose to rent the house out, we had several people approach us and offer to buy it (sight unseen) because it is such a lovely neighborhood. Our house is three houses from West Street, which can be very busy. Yet, sitting in our backyard we do not hear the street noise. (Though if a neighbor is blowing leaves on a Sunday morning, we hear that – I think I did a blog rant about that one day). The neighbors are a mix of families, single folk, and older folk. A little bit of everything.

If they think they can help in some way, people do in our neighborhood. I especially enjoy the two families that live across from us with children. Two of the little girls call out to Joe when he is outside, “Hi, Joe! Hi, Joe!” They repeat this until he acknowledges them and then he walks over to talk to the mom and dad. Their dad’s name is Joe, so my Joe is convinced they love to say his name. I think it’s because he always has a smile and acknowledges them. I’ll wave at them and they smile and wave back when they are not looking confused (as in who is that lady?). They see Joe outside working in the yard a lot so they totally know who he is. He also buys lemonade from them when they have their stand.

Joe calls himself a GOFF (Grumpy old Fart x 2 – that’s why there are 2 f’s). He’s the sweetheart of the neighborhood though. I always kept more to myself. The irony is Joe is the introvert and I am an ambivert (51% Extrovert, 49% Introvert – this month – it fluctuates). Yet, he knows all our neighbors much better than I do. He has fix-it and gardening skills, fresh vegetables and fruits, and tools to woo them. It’s not like most people know that I have mad accounting skills and we all know people AVOID HR folk whenever possible. I can laugh about that. Honest. Okay, it may sound more like a mad cackle.

Everything I am doing today is my ‘last’ in this house. This is my last blog written in this house, for awhile at least. Kim will let us crash in the guest room when we come to California to visit. So maybe next year I’ll write another blog in this house. It will be different, though. I will most likely be different too since we are made up of our experiences and I will have new layers to add. I truly hope I am not a GOFF by then (rumors that I am now are totally unfounded).

Tomorrow I will be writing to you from Barstow, California. Our first destination on the way to the Grand Canyon.

For now, I am off to finish up some of the ‘last’ chores.