I’m in the back of a new Dodge Caravan being chauffeured from Jacksonville to my hometown 2 hours away. The ride costs less than a one way rental car and works well with my plan to rent a truck this week and schlep across the country with the rest of our belongings as we make our move to Chicago more permanent. Seems odd to call it permanent as we have been in Chi-town for over 2 years now, but we always thought our departure was imminent. Along with some added job security for VeeVee and our family, we’ll finally be moving out of our one bedroom shoebox (albeit a shoebox with one helluva great location and view) and out into a real Chicago neighborhood and a 3 bedroom, 2 bath monstrosity of an apartment. I’m looking forward to all the new amenities (In unit washer and dryer! Key the hallelujah choir music!).
It’s been an interesting few years watching J Bean grown from… well, a bean… to a little girl. She’s now 2 and half and remains the light of every day I get to spend with her. The changes in her ability to move about and in communicating with us never cease to amaze. Today, while leaving my family (for the first time more than a few hours away more than just one night since we first moved to the second city) I found myself faced with a big lump in my throat. I was feeling apprehension about leaving them, will they be safe? Will I? Will VeeVee be prepared for the days on end without my support? As with other jobs, we stay-home parents tend to over-estimate our irreplaceability in our roles. Once I made it to the airport, the worries started to melt away and after having spoken with VeeVee and J Bean on the phone twice already (I’ve been gone only 7 hours at the time I wrote this), I can see the world continues to spin without me and that makes me very happy. J Bean will get some time with sitters this week every day while VeeVee is working. I am very interested in seeing how this goes and I’m excited to see the new things she will learn while also a little anxious to see what new behaviors I may have to work with when I get home.
I’m looking forward to reconnecting with some friends and family while I am home in between the packing, loading and seeing if I can find a buyer for our seldom used extra car while I’m here. We’re hoping to expand our family soon and it is about time to upgrade to that dreaded mini-van. Maybe I’ll be able to convince VeeVee an SUV is really the way to go, but I don’t think she is taking seriously my lobbying efforts for a new Charger. Signing off, from the road. I’ll try to post again in a few days with an update and I’ll be passing though some storm damaged areas of north GA and Tennessee.
UPDATE: The packing is mostly done, I pick up the truck tomorrow and get down to the business of loading it with all my worldly possessions. While writing the entry above it dawned on me that I would have a big rental truck only half full when heading up to the tornado affected areas so I reached out to some philanthropist friends of mine and we are working together to gather supplies to take to some families in need in Cleveland, GA. I am hopeful we can have a positive impact on the recipients. There are some 300 families without homes up there and most lost everything they had, I’m very happy to be able to be a part of helping them through this time. I encourage you all to donate to the Red Cross or other charities to help these families. The devastation is unreal and I’m bracing myself for what I’ll see when I get there on Wednesday.
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