tangential living

So a funny thing happened on the way back home.  We decided to stay here in California for a while, and it wasn’t just because the US is so seductive.  Unfortunately, we’ve become a little brainwashed as I just commented to my sister that 70F would be WARM (we are suffering in 50F or something; my brain turns off once we leave the 70’s).  I remember at the beginning of this trip that we were all SHIVERING in 70F, Kilo included, and now we’re all hearty souls with thick northern blood.  You know you NEED to get back home when 70F sounds like a WARM temperature.  YIKES!!!  That thought alone has scared me straight.  Digression aside, we had planned to leave the wonderful hospitality of my sister’s family around the 2nd week of September.  The boys and I had arrived around August late teens and we wanted to be back home before it got too cold here.  The boys were also looking to restarting Judo.

We all attacked the storage unit with such fervor that we were able to completely empty it by the end of September.  I can’t begin to describe the weight that emptying that unit took off my shoulders.  We were up to $200/month in storage fees and while the fees started at about 1/2 that rate when we started, some 5 years ago, the money we’ve been paying to store our stuff will never come close to the value of the stuff.  But we were able to all be completely ready to let go of all the stuff this year so in one aspect it was worth it.  What we weren’t immediately able to donate to thrift stores we brought to my sister’s house and dumped in her yard.  She was enormously gracious in allowing us to fill her yards with our junk and in the end it probably took us a good month to get rid of it all.  We got rid of about 1/2 at their annual flea market and sold stuff for pennies on the dollar.  It about killed me to dump some of the more sentimental stuff for such little money but we were in a “get rid at all costs” mode.  We sold a few things on Cragislist but the majority was given away or sold for pennies.  Our folks then stepped up and offered up their storage area that they’d recently emptied and we’ve slowly been filling that up with stuff we either don’t have time to get rid of properly or stuff (pictures, etc.) we don’t want to dump.  The accumulation of STUFF never ceases to amaze me.  The more space we seem to develop, whether in the trailer or at the palapa, we seem to need to fill it up.  It is no wonder we’re such a materialistic society.

I have been nagging jamie to dump the storage unit each and every time we visit and I’m still a little bit awed that we finally did it.  It is such a relief to have that albatross gone.  We had a great time at my folks 50th wedding anniversary and then met up with many old friends at the Labor Day campout.  Since the mid-60’s, a group of families (mine included) has camped together on the Labor and Memorial day weekends.  These families are now into a 3rd and 4th generation of kids and it was so lovely to see everyone and their babies.  There are a HUGE crop of babies right now and it is hard to believe that the little girl who babysat my baby boys now has 2 of her own.  I’ve definitely been feeling my years this trip.

Other than some last minute getting rid of crap, we were pretty much ready to head back to the heat of Mexico but decided to stay here to help out family.  My sister and her husband have been talking and planning a remodel for quite a while and decided to go forward earlier this year.  When we got here, the foundation was nil, the house was in the air and pits and piles abounded in the yard.  It has been amazing to see the construction come together but it has also been such a privilege to support them in their efforts.   We watched the foundation poured (after they removed their river-rock foundation) and the (cripple wall?) house attached to the foundation.  Jamie also lent my folks a hand in the remodel of their 4-plex and while it doesn’t feel right to leave everyone without having finished anything, I’m glad we were able to offer the assistance we were able to.  Course, we were kept rather busy as the boys wanted as much Andrew time as they could get and we had obligations here with my sister and folks.  Thus the most EXCELLENT excuse of no blog updates.  Though, my last 2 readers have probably died of old age, so that’s not such a big deal now.  Of course, after these remodels we’ve either been supporting or working on, Jamie is now dying to purchase a fixer and make that OUR project.  I reminded him about the house in Merida, but he wants something on US soil.  So we’ll watch the market via the internet and see what pops up.

I think this trip really brought home to us how seductive the US is – she sucks you in and makes you want to stay.  And having family nearby is just the icing on the cake.  We miss so much being so far away and we’re finally at the stage when the kids no longer occupy our every waking moment so we could, theoretically, if we lived in the area, really take advantage of family time.  But life here is really hectic.  Even Pike, who LIVES for the US visits mentioned that he was really looking forward to getting home where it is so much more relaxed.  I don’t know how, but you kind of feel like you NEED to buy the stuff and have the STUFF and DO the stuff that you just never feel that pressure or opportunity to in Mexico.  I think we’re all looking forward to going home.

So we’re not going home.  We’re going to Wisconsin.  Yeah, too weird for words, but we want another chance to visit with Maca, Jamie’s grandmother.  Jesse got to visit quite a bit when he and Jamie went back (for what turned out to be the passing of Jamie’s mom) and we haven’t visited her for a couple years and she’s getting up there (96?) so we need to throw in a Wisconsin visit.  And hell, if we’re going to Wisconsin we might as well stop by Minnesota and visit with my other sister (this is starting to read like, “If You Give a Mouse a Muffin”) but then we’re REALLY going home.  Well, if we get out of Texas.  Because once we’re done freezing our asses off in the northern climates we’re going to visit Jody (if she’ll have us).  Politics aside, we absolutely LOVE Texas, well, West Texas.

I started my medicinal runs yesterday after injuring my calf the 25th, and have progressed to the point that a 4mile run is my new normal.  I’m not sure if I’ll be pounding the mileage once we get home, but it will be interesting to see.  I still scope out the ground in front of me for snakes and each time I hear a rustling in the bushes I’m sure it is 1) iguana or 2) snake or 3) crab, but so far I’ve been wrong.  Squirrels, each and every time.  Those are damn weird creatures.

Last night we had a family dinner with my folks, sister and brothers’ families and said our goodbyes.  Today we pack up the last of the stuff to go into storage and pack up the van.  The kids want to head out early Tuesday, so we’ll see when we leave and how far we get.  I don’t want to do super long days but would like to get 500 miles in daily.  We’re under a weather crunch now and while I much prefer the meandering type of travel, I’ll crunch the miles under little protest.  I keep seeing all the backroads though, and keep trying to route our route via backroads instead of interstate.

I know there was so much more, but I posted it all in my head.  Unfortunately, the brain-posting software has some fatal glitches that make it more than unreliable.