...months ago today we returned. Did it make sense? Was it a good idea? Should we have done it in the first place? Those questions go through my mind nearly every day.
There are times, like yesterday, when it seems clearer. The days when we are surrounded by family, the people from whom we were separated by distance and time for nearly the whole year. The days when I can look at the Christmas tree that we went with Alice to pick out. The days when Alice wanders into her playroom, and the fact that we have the space and the good fortune to provide her that room (she has already drawn on the walls!).
But there are so many days, when I wonder why we left, wonder what is happening with those that we left behind, wonder what the point of the last eight or nine hours was...wonder why we are here.
As summer went on, we started scheduling a "date night," where Alice would stay with a babysitter, while we went out for a few hours. It quickly became the time when we would take care of things that were really hard to do with her around. Appliance shopping. Car shopping. All of the things that we actually now had to contend with as a practical matter.
Toward summer's end, our focus shifted. We began to search for a home. A place to be. Something permanent. Something that we didn't have in our old cycle of four months here, two months there. A place where Alice could grow up, a place where she could bring her friends, a place where we could gather our large and strange (in a good way!) family. A place of our own...
Friday, December 26, 2014
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
The Story Continues...
My mood was testy as we left behind our totes in the garage and headed for the freeways of Chicago on the morning of Memorial Day. Traffic was, fortunately, light, and we headed east and, ultimately, north to the state of Michigan.
We were heading to Cadillac, where we had traditionally spent our summers during our time in Alaska. The previous summer, however, we had sold our house to the friends that were renting it from us, because we were not moving back to Michigan. My wife's mother and stepdad had moved to Alabama, and we were going to try to spend some time in both places in summers to come.
One summer's experiment with that and an infant convinced us that we were going to have more of a stationary base of operations, so we rented a house in Traverse City, one of the finest places that one could hope to recreate in. Two months off, two blocks away from Grand Traverse Bay. What a fine plan!
And we had knocked it off the table. I was lucky that someone had rented the place for July, so we got that month's deposit back. I was not so lucky for June. Coming back here involved a lot of trade-offs like that. Less income, different benefits, less time off. On the other hand, real weekends off, more opportunities for Alice to do new things, and convenient stores with reasonable prices easily accessible if we needed supplies.
We spent the first week at my wife's aunt's house, and driving around getting some furniture into the apartment that we had rented. We also got about the business of finding all the stuff that we has stashed around here in various locations. The apartment actually had a basement, so that we had some real storage available without renting a storage locker any more. A week of laundromats convinced us to buy a washer and dryer.
Gradually, we began to settle into life back here. We took Alice to the city park, where she learned that she loves splashing water from a fountain. We enjoyed concerts at the pavilion on Lake Cadillac, and began to explore businesses in town that had opened since we had left. We brought Val and Miranda, and showed them what real trees looked like. They got to see Lake Michigan and Mackinac Island, and some of the things that make this part of the world wonderful...
We were heading to Cadillac, where we had traditionally spent our summers during our time in Alaska. The previous summer, however, we had sold our house to the friends that were renting it from us, because we were not moving back to Michigan. My wife's mother and stepdad had moved to Alabama, and we were going to try to spend some time in both places in summers to come.
One summer's experiment with that and an infant convinced us that we were going to have more of a stationary base of operations, so we rented a house in Traverse City, one of the finest places that one could hope to recreate in. Two months off, two blocks away from Grand Traverse Bay. What a fine plan!
And we had knocked it off the table. I was lucky that someone had rented the place for July, so we got that month's deposit back. I was not so lucky for June. Coming back here involved a lot of trade-offs like that. Less income, different benefits, less time off. On the other hand, real weekends off, more opportunities for Alice to do new things, and convenient stores with reasonable prices easily accessible if we needed supplies.
We spent the first week at my wife's aunt's house, and driving around getting some furniture into the apartment that we had rented. We also got about the business of finding all the stuff that we has stashed around here in various locations. The apartment actually had a basement, so that we had some real storage available without renting a storage locker any more. A week of laundromats convinced us to buy a washer and dryer.
Gradually, we began to settle into life back here. We took Alice to the city park, where she learned that she loves splashing water from a fountain. We enjoyed concerts at the pavilion on Lake Cadillac, and began to explore businesses in town that had opened since we had left. We brought Val and Miranda, and showed them what real trees looked like. They got to see Lake Michigan and Mackinac Island, and some of the things that make this part of the world wonderful...
It's Been A Long Time...
It's been nearly seven months. I haven't had much to say. How do you sum up five years of your life succinctly? How can you even make sense of it all, let alone explain it to others? How do you convey the sense of unreality, the feeling that nothing is quite real, that it is all hazy and just a touch out of reach?
For anyone still wondering, we came back to Michigan on Memorial Day. We hit O'Hare Airport at about 8:30 in the morning, and began to sort out the mountain of stuff that we had managed to bring directly with us. My wife's aunt had brought our new Chevy Traverse up to one of the discount lots at the airport, and finding it was very easy. Big Red Chevy with Alaska plates.
Loading it was a little trickier, though. We put two dogs into the same kennel, and broke the other one down. Despite the cavernous space in the Traverse, we could not fit all of the totes that we had brought with us and the kennels. I ended up disgorging the contents of the totes into the back of the car, and leaving three out of four totes sitting next to the garbage can in the parking garage.
The days leading up to our departure were crazed and emotional. We sold everything that we did not take and just left the rest for the next residents of the building. We never did get postage on all 28 totes that we were shipping before we left. Our postmaster was kind enough to permit us to leave 21 of them in a very small building until we could get postage in the Lower 48 and ship it back to him. Our house was filled with people coming back and forth shopping our going out of business sale. Our friend Charlotte Larson was kind enough to come over and take Alice back to her house to play with her little girl, so that we could concentrate on packing and selling, packing and selling. Alice's babysitter, Valerie, and her cousin, Miranda, helped us every day, even though they knew that a painful parting was coming in a few days.
On Saturday night, we were invited to the house of some friends under a pretext. Because my wife was accosted by someone else wanting to do some shopping, I went over myself, with the idea that she would follow. I walked in to the house, and it seemed as if half the village was there. A beautiful going-away dinner, with words of thanks from all. A beautiful quilt that different hands joined to make. Many tears. Nice.
Sunday came, and we wrapped up what we could. Val and Miranda hauled our stuff in a trailer that they hitched to Val's dad's 4-wheeler. Off to the airport with Chelsea and Alice, and three dogs they went. Fortunately, Chelsea went back up to our apartment before she left and found the $800 in cash that I had forgotten there. Damn...I clearly wasn't thinking. I walked to the strip myself, and tipped my hat to one of my now former students who stopped on her 4-wheeler to say goodbye. Hugging Val and Miranda goodbye was as heartbreaking as you could imagine, and nothing that I try to describe will suffice. The plane was waiting as I walked up, so the parting was at least relatively brief. (Good news flash: they came to stay with us less than a month later, and ended up staying for 3 1/2 weeks.)
We had a last supper with our friends the Jungs in Bethel, and then boarded the Alaska Airlines jet in Bethel for the last time in our Alaska sojourn. We were leaving the life that we had known, and heading back to Michigan to see what kind of life we were going to find...
For anyone still wondering, we came back to Michigan on Memorial Day. We hit O'Hare Airport at about 8:30 in the morning, and began to sort out the mountain of stuff that we had managed to bring directly with us. My wife's aunt had brought our new Chevy Traverse up to one of the discount lots at the airport, and finding it was very easy. Big Red Chevy with Alaska plates.
Loading it was a little trickier, though. We put two dogs into the same kennel, and broke the other one down. Despite the cavernous space in the Traverse, we could not fit all of the totes that we had brought with us and the kennels. I ended up disgorging the contents of the totes into the back of the car, and leaving three out of four totes sitting next to the garbage can in the parking garage.
The days leading up to our departure were crazed and emotional. We sold everything that we did not take and just left the rest for the next residents of the building. We never did get postage on all 28 totes that we were shipping before we left. Our postmaster was kind enough to permit us to leave 21 of them in a very small building until we could get postage in the Lower 48 and ship it back to him. Our house was filled with people coming back and forth shopping our going out of business sale. Our friend Charlotte Larson was kind enough to come over and take Alice back to her house to play with her little girl, so that we could concentrate on packing and selling, packing and selling. Alice's babysitter, Valerie, and her cousin, Miranda, helped us every day, even though they knew that a painful parting was coming in a few days.
On Saturday night, we were invited to the house of some friends under a pretext. Because my wife was accosted by someone else wanting to do some shopping, I went over myself, with the idea that she would follow. I walked in to the house, and it seemed as if half the village was there. A beautiful going-away dinner, with words of thanks from all. A beautiful quilt that different hands joined to make. Many tears. Nice.
Sunday came, and we wrapped up what we could. Val and Miranda hauled our stuff in a trailer that they hitched to Val's dad's 4-wheeler. Off to the airport with Chelsea and Alice, and three dogs they went. Fortunately, Chelsea went back up to our apartment before she left and found the $800 in cash that I had forgotten there. Damn...I clearly wasn't thinking. I walked to the strip myself, and tipped my hat to one of my now former students who stopped on her 4-wheeler to say goodbye. Hugging Val and Miranda goodbye was as heartbreaking as you could imagine, and nothing that I try to describe will suffice. The plane was waiting as I walked up, so the parting was at least relatively brief. (Good news flash: they came to stay with us less than a month later, and ended up staying for 3 1/2 weeks.)
We had a last supper with our friends the Jungs in Bethel, and then boarded the Alaska Airlines jet in Bethel for the last time in our Alaska sojourn. We were leaving the life that we had known, and heading back to Michigan to see what kind of life we were going to find...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)