Good Bye Norma Jean

We're finally on the road! We closed on our house, the money from the sale is in our account, and we're officially full timers! When I went into the house to leave the keys, I looked around and said a final goodbye, and promptly burst into tears. That was the last time I'd ever walk through that beautiful house that served us so well. I said goodbye to the appliances I'd so thoroughly researched and lovingly chosen as the best ones for my family. I said goodbye to my sun room, to my son's playroom. I was surprised at how emotional it was for me, considering I thought I'd been processing this goodbye for months. I've never been good with goodbyes though. I tend to go to great lengths to avoid them.

That last day was so much work, too! So much final packing (of the RV), so many little things we needed to take care of. Final runs to donate the rest of the things we didn't sell or already donate, final grocery store run, final runs to the dump and recycling center. And then the packing of the RV, which also included disconnecting the water and power and hooking up the toad (our car, the towed vehicle). So many little fiddly things that happen for an RV on Moving Day.

Our goal was to leave by 10 am so we could avoid rush hour traffic (we left on a Friday) and get to the RV park in daylight with plenty of time to unpack and get dinner made. Instead, because life's what happens when you're busy making other plans, we rolled out around 5pm, hit rush hour traffic, and got to the RV park around 8:30 pm, exhausted.

I felt a head cold coming on, because that's how I roll with stressful situations like moving - I get sick at the critical moment. After hooking up the power, water and sewer and getting things a bit settled, we all perked up enough to get dinner made. While we ate, we relaxed together a bit before we decided we were SO ready for bed. The beautiful thing about traveling in an RV is everything familiar is there with you in the new location - your bed that smells like you and feels just right, your food, your comforts and familiar things that make a space home.

We gratefully climbed into our beds and all fell asleep promptly. Amazingly, I slept better than I had in weeks.