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. 

Sell All the Things!

The RV is ready. Ready!

It's finished enough that anything left to do can be done with us occupying the RV. Living in it.

I'm almost in disbelief.

This process has taken a full year to complete. And then some! A YEAR! 

We haven't listed the house yet. We haven't moved into the RV yet. We haven't even sold allthethings we're intending to sell yet.

But we have FINALLY made some real, tangible progress, and are *thisclose* to moving into the RV. We'd be doing it this weekend, but our son requested we stay in the house while his BFF is visiting from up north.

This is fine, because there is PLENTY to do inside the house still = like The Completion of the Sorting of All The Things. 

And we're even almost finished with THAT - save for the kitchen and the garage. The garage. Dun dun duuuuun!!! In our house, the garage is also known as "The Place We Put Allthethings We Don't Want to Deal With Now".  So that will be a delight. The good news is as I have been sorting through the house and needing the plastic bins in the garage we won't be using for the stuff stored in them anymore, I have been bringing them in and sorting through them. So it's not quite as daunting as it could be. The other good news is that we have a dear able-bodied friend who has limitless energy and a powerful desire to organize coming to visit this weekend, and while our son is occupied with her son (his BFF), we are going to borrow her mad skills and able body for help.

So we MIGHT just be able to completely finish ALL of the sorting THIS weekend, with her help. Fingers crossed! Because we have an appointment with the buyout guy for next Friday, and we have to have EVERYTHING we are selling ready to show him. Incentive!