Sorting a Lifetime

I know I said I'd post again last night, but I don't have my feet on the ground yet after the whirlwind trip to North Carolina. I'm exhausted!

I'm sure there's some minor depression that's helping keep me so tired. Last night as I was going to bed, all I could think about was Mother spending the first night in her new digs. Because of the size of the place, we've switched her from a queen bed to a twin. How different to know you'll spend the rest of your nights in a twin bed after years and years of queens and kings.

Today's photo shows you what Mother's guest room looked like during my visit. We kept putting furniture in there that is coming back to Ohio so the movers would have an easier time on Thursday (yesterday). I can identify many of the items as being from the Maitland house where I grew up or the Spring Valley house where they moved when I went away to college. Going through Mother's possessions is like walking backwards through my life.

I can't say enough about the good work my sister-in-law, Molly, has done during the course of the past two years. And in the past week, Molly was an absolute genius—"take this, not that". Molly was in Mother's closet for fully two hours on Monday night, pulling and setting aside enough clothing to leave Mother with twelve linear feet of clothing on hangers. On Tuesday night, Molly spent another two hours in the closet pulling outfits together and hooking the hangers together. Thanks to all Molly's hard work, Mother will now be able to reach into the closet and pull out an outfit, not struggle to find two things that will go together.

But back to the original intent of this post: a brief recap of the week.

I left Youngstown around 8:30 last Saturday, stopped at Starbucks to cash in my birthday coupon for a mocha to sip while driving, and arrived in Hendersonville around 5:30. I stopped along the way at Tamarack to pick up something lovely for Molly's birthday and settled on a fabulous mug by WV clay artist Keith Lahti. I hit bad rain in Virginia and stopped at one point to close my eyes for a few minutes. As soon as I arrived at Mother's, we left to go to Blue Sky Cafe for some supper.

Sunday was totally devoted to sorting, culling, and packing. And preparing to sew. My primary purpose during this visit was to cut down her existing window treatments to fit the windows in the new apartment. The pleated valance over her patio door needed to be extended about eight inches. The gathered valance in the bedroom had to be cut down about twelve inches. Molly—another accomplished sewist—and I kept tossing ideas around and finally came up with a plan.

Monday I went to the Ace Hardware and got a 1"x6"x8' board which I covered with an old sheet. Then I took out several of the pleats and remade them. With my new staple gun, I attached the valance to the board. It's not perfect, but I'm probably the only person who would see the little glitch in one pleat. On the gathered valance, I thought we could just gather it more tightly onto a new rod, but Molly suggested I cut out one section and just reseam it. I took her advice, then realized that a rod pocket can't accept a rod if there's a seam in the middle of it! Knowing no one would see it, and knowing this valance only needs to last for a couple of years at most, I cut two holes in the back of the rod pocket and snaked the rod out and back in. Then I sewed a little patch across the exposed rod so the valance would gather properly. "Necessity is the mother of . . ." Oh yeah, "invention"!

My brother Jerry arrived around 12:30 on Monday and we went en masse to visit Mother's new place, Spring Arbor West (SAW). It's a very nice facility with under 40 residents. There's a lovely dining room, a café one can reserve to entertain guests or throw a small party, a game room, a library, and a light and bright sunroom with lots of white wicker and a television for watching movies. Mother's room is at the end of one of the halls, with a four-person game table situated right outside her door. Molly and Jim did a great job in choosing this place, I believe. I hope Mother will be happy there, but we'll never know—one way or the other—as this is not a person who ever discusses her feelings. About anything!

I finished the drapery alterations late Monday night. Tuesday I took the valances and rods and a few delicate items out to Spring Arbor West. Once I got out there and unloaded the paintings and clock, I realized I had forgotten the drapery hardware! (Let me clarify that the current apartment and the new apartment are about 15-20 miles apart!) I had to rush back to Fletcher Park Inn (FPI) for a 3:00 party to say goodbye to the FPI executive director who is changing jobs—she's the new executive director of Spring Arbor West! How wonderful that Mother will know someone there! The FPI management used the party to also say goodbye to Mother. I ducked out midway through and raced back out to SAW to drop off the hardware and give instructions for its installation. Then back to FPI and an evening of packing and loading Jaci's van until I just couldn't take another step.

Wednesday morning I left around 8:00, stopping only for gas and food until I got to Beckley, where I had to make another stop to buy two more of the Lahti mugs. I figured I had earned them! After a fabulous fried tomato sandwich for lunch, I tackled the rest of the trip, stopping once to nap for ten minutes. I hit horrible thunderstorms in northern West Virginia, and got home around 7:30. The Jazzman and I had hoped to go to a concert at 7:00 at Mill Creek Park, where one of his cousins was playing in a band, but his late work schedule and my long drive deemed that an impossibility.

Once home, I unloaded the car, poured a glass of wine, and collapsed. In two weeks or so, I've got to do it all over again, packing up everything that's left in the apartment and getting it loaded onto a moving van to bring it back here. I've known for years that this day was coming, but I'm in a state of shock now that it's finally here!

So there you go. A short trip that felt very long and was filled to overflowing with emotions.

May my children never have to go through this sort of exercise with me!