Getting Settled When Unsettled

We are settled enough to be functional and only occasionally have the need to get into unopened boxes to find something. That's the encouraging news.

On the other hand we need furniture, we are working on getting files and finances joined and in order to do taxes, and I am distracted by everything involved with my mother's valve replacement next week.

Also, the weather is not cooperating. Since this is January in Michigan, that is not a surprise. The snow isn't overly deep, but the single digit temperatures (F) we are having keep the road salt from working. The roads are scary.

Last week we got brave and punched the first hole in our pristine walls to hang Jay's, now our, cuckoo clock. It's sweet to hear it calling out the hour and the half hour again. Love this thing. Putting it up made Oak Haven feel like home.

Last week we ordered shades for our windows. After several false starts with businesses that didn't work out, we finally ended up getting them through Costco. They referred us to a local business with a large showroom owned by people who have been installing quality shades and blinds for over thirty years. So far it's been a pleasant experience and in a few more weeks we will have window coverings. Finally.

2014 In Review

What a year!

Everything in my life changed except I'm still driving the same old car.

The activity started January 9 when we were talking about our plans for the future (we were going to live separately in the same townhouse community) and Jay proposed. I didn't have to think about my answer. Some decisions are easy.

Wedding planning began the next day when Jay suggested February 22 as a wedding date. We're too old for long engagements.

It all fell together perfectly. We got married February 22 at Bravo in a private room. Pastor Bruce from Lighthouse Community Church did the ceremony in front of our families and a few close friends. Daughter Heather stood up with me. Jay's son Jeff stood up with him. The food was wonderful.

Except for son John not being able to make it, the wedding was as perfect as things can be in this imperfect world.

We both feel so amazed that love happened when neither one of us was expecting it or even thought it was possible.

We also never expected to build a new home, but the more we looked for a place to live the more it seemed like the right choice.

We've been living in our new condo to a little over two months now and we're very happy with that decision. Notice I did not say we are all all unpacked and organized.

Neither one of us brought much furniture into this marriage. We are looking forward to furnishing the condo in 2015.

In October, just before we moved into the condo together, I sold my house in Almena Township/Paw Paw. What a relief that was.

The saddest part of the year was losing Pappy and Sunny. They were my two favorite furbabies ever and it was very painful and sad to see them get old and decline to the point it was obvious I needed to let them go to the Rainbow Bridge and wait for me.

I plan to stay dogless now.

In September Jay and I went to Hilton Head for two weeks of relaxing before moving. The timing was a bit strange, but Jay has a timeshare there and those were the weeks that worked.

It was a wonderful, relaxing two weeks. The relaxed feeling was gone immediately after we got home and the moving and home merging began.

October/November were the worse months of the year as we moved and merged belongings. Two best words to describe the experience are "exhausted" and "overwhelmed". We did what needed to be done. We remembered that we loved each other and we kept working toward the goal.

Things are better now. We are laughing and planning and we are able to find 90% of the things we are looking to find.

Other things to remember about 2014:

• I left a church that I loved, Lighthouse Community Church, to go to church with Jay at Oakland Drive Christian Church which I also love. In December I officially joined ODCC and resigned my membership at Lighthouse.
• I drove my mother to over 100 doctor appointments and Parkinson's exercise classes.
• Costco came to Kalamazoo and it is only a few miles from our condo. We have been Costco members, but now we don't have to drive to Grand Rapids to shop.
• I got hugged by Paul Anka.