I have deleted at least fifteen paragraphs this morning in writing my blog. When I started this blog, I wanted it to be authentic and ordinary. I wanted to capture my personal experiences in learning to live in the world as a retiree and share our lives with people who might wonder what we are up to with a move from California to Minnesota.
Writing is a passion
for me. Other people express their passion through creating beautiful furniture,
knitting, crocheting, quilting, traveling, gardening, and well, the possibilities
are endless.
I am sure the people working with wood or fabrics have
glitches.
The glitch I was having this morning is that I wanted to
write and all that would flow from my brain to my fingers to my computer was
politics. And frankly that leads to a rant. I do not want to use my blog to
rant. However, I do believe in putting on paper what needs to come out. Letting
it flow out, I would re-read the words, think about the words, and then delete
the words. I am hoping I have moved past the glitch.
Joe and I have the house to ourselves today as the rest of
our multigenerational family is off to Nickelodeon Universal’s indoor park at
Mall of America.
Now may be a fun time to revisit how we came to live in a household with our children and grandchildren. The home is owned by
our daughter, Megan, after she moved from California to Minnesota in March 2021.
She loves Minnesota. Even the winters. When Joe and I decided to retire, Joe
wanted to talk about moving to another area of the country to go to a climate
that would allow him to have a garden without drought conditions.
We also considered the proximity of our adult children. With
Nate in New York City, Lauren’s plan to move to Florida (she did this past
December), and Megan in Minnesota we had at least three choices. New York was
ruled out fast as we are not city dwellers. Florida would put us further away
from Nate, Megan, and my family in Ohio. I also did not want to live near
hurricanes – they scare me far more than an earthquake or a tornado. And Florida’s
politics scare the hell out of me (Oops!).
In July of 2024 we moved to Minnesota where we ‘temporarily’
live in our daughter’s finished basement. We are learning to live with people
moving around overhead. We are learning to live with little ones in the house
again (Aged 9 ½ and 8), and we are learning to live with two large dogs. One of
the dogs, Pan, sleeps with us.
Within the next three to five months, we should have our own
home. We are grateful for the opportunity to stay here in our cozy flat. We look
forward to our own space. It is possible to want and desire two separate ways
of living at the same time.
I will miss the daily interactions with family members, Megan’s
cooking dinner for us, and all the love I get from Pan. I will miss seeing the
grandkids so easily.
We look forward to our own kitchen with our own cooking
utensils. (This is not a criticism of Megan’s kitchen – it is stocked with
exactly what she wants and needs), doing our laundry without having to consider
other family member’s needs, and having our own yard to garden in. Who knew I
would miss Joe going to our backyard and picking fresh vegetables for meals. We
look forward to Joe setting up his at-home machine shop. Parking our car in a
garage during the winter month’s will be lovely.
Subject change. Did you know there are packets of hand
warmers? Joe worked outside driving a forklift one day this week. He stayed
warm except for his hands. Jeremy told him about the hand warmers. They are
small packets that are activated by shaking and then exposing to the air for
five to fifteen minutes. The hand warmers we bought are good for up to ten
hours. Isn’t modern technology great?
No comments:
Post a Comment