On the Move

I am about to move for the 4th time in barely twelve months. Even for me, this has been an unusually footloose year.

September 2009 saw me moving from the Florida Panhandle to Las Vegas

April 2010, I moved from one Las Vegas address to another.

In June, I moved from Las Vegas to Carson City to stay with my mother and sister until certain situations resolved themselves.

Next month, October, will find me moving my mother to Louisiana, where I will likely stay with her at least a couple of weeks to get her all settled.

After that? Who knows.

Fortunately, I've finally gotten rid of all my furniture. Otherwise, these last moves would have been the end of me.

During the past year, I've also done a little traveling. A couple of trips to back to Louisiana, a couple to Las Vegas. On the way to bringing my mother to Louisiana next month, we will stop a couple more days in Vegas so she can see some of her grandkids - and one of her great-grandkids - for what will probably be the last time in a while.

Then we will detour to South Carolina for my mother to see her baby brother. He's been dying to get us over there to see the new home he's just built in the mountains, and this may be her last major trip. I was hoping to get to Washington D.C. on that trip, but it would've just been too much commotion, I think, for my mother to handle.

Although my mother has had a stroke, she is now quite strong and healthy. She does take various medications, but they are keeping her in proper frame. Sometimes her mind is still so sharp that we are amazed. But more and more often, she's obviously not thinking clearly. At her age, it's to be expected, I guess. But she has an aunt only a year older than she is who is still living alone and driving during daylight hours. Her older brother, too, still seems much sharper mentally than she is. I guess everyone ages differently.

In any case, my mother isn't capable of living alone. This is why we brought her up here to live with my sister. I was living with my daughter, and my brother is married. My sister likes to get out and about on weekends, as my mother does, so it seemed a good idea. And I think we all agree in the family that it was the right one at the time.

Now, though, my mother has decided to go back to Louisiana. And we're all in agreement that it's right for her at this time. She has a big house down there, with all her furniture and things. A huge bedroom with two large closets. She's never been able to adjust to the smaller urban rental homes we've been staying in the last several years, even though they have been spacious by any standard other than comparison to her own rural house.

Also, her brother and sisters are all down there.

The last trip I took to the bayou, I reluctantly brought her with me. I had an agenda, and I thought she would keep me from accomplishing as much as I wanted to. And I was right. Between caring for her, and having some part of her family drop by every day, I got very little done.

At the time, I said it was probably a mistake to have brought her, but she'd enjoyed it so much that I couldn't regret it. Turns out, it made her realize how much happier she would be living close to her brothers and sisters again.

Before I got here, she would have sitters in the morning until my sister came home for lunch. Then she would stay alone until my sister came home from work. So she doesn't need constant care. But she needs someone to help dress her, to cook for her and to put her to bed. She needs a live in.

My brother is living in Florida, my sister will remain in Carson City and I'm not sure where I'll end up. But I can promise you it will not be a Louisiana bayou. Not for very long, at any rate. I left there the day after I graduated from high school and I seriously do not believe I will ever live there again.

So we have to hire someone.

I asked a cousin from the area to keep her ears open, because we'll need 1 full time person and one relief person for the weekends. I thought it would take a good six weeks to come up with some good possibilities, which is about how long until we get there. But my cousin knew of 2 right off the bat, so we may have that problem nice and sorted as soon as we arrive.

I love when things fall into place. It makes them feel right.

I was hoping to get to Europe in October. Maybe even September. Instead, September will be spent packing up someone else's house, which will not be fun. The reason I gave away all of my stuff is because I hated having to pack it up to move all the time. And October will be spent taking my mother here and there, then getting her settled back into the old family home.

We get to Louisiana October 15. A couple of weeks getting everything settled takes me to the end of October. As I mentioned in my last blog post, my sister told me she'd like to go to Europe for Thanksgiving, so we'll just have to wait and see what transpires.

I have to say that this move to Louisiana just came out of the blue. This was not something any of us had considered a possibility for the longest time, certainly not since my mother's stroke last year. But I have to admit that knowing how much happier she'll be, living so close to all her brothers and sisters, makes it a lot easier for my sister and I to resume our normal lives once more without feeling guilty.

Also, my daughter and the 7 year old are living just an hour and half away. So they'll probably be getting down to see her every few weeks. And I'll be going to visit them, at which time I'll naturally go down to see my mother, as well. 

So I've got a busy month ahead of me, but then it's another new beginning, and I'm excited about learning what the future holds for me after that. I'm wishing hard for at least a quick trip to Europe, but I'm hoping by spring - April or May - to be able to spend some real quality time over there.

Still, right now, that's a little too far out to be planning. At this point, I'm wondering where I'll be spending the winter. The most likely spot is New Orleans, followed closely by Las Vegas. But, in light of recent developments, I'm not ruling out any surprises. My personal favorite would be Panama.

Will try to remember to post here as events unfold.