After months of preparation and mounting concerns, we have finally left town. Spent the night in Santa Cruz hanging out with Grandma, and today we shuttle to the airport for a coupla redeyes to Boston.

The process has been overwhelming.  There were flea market sales, thrift shop donations, runs to the dump, filled trash cans, lots of giveaways, and still we had boxes, crates, bags, and too much to store away. Reorganizing the garage, turning the barn into a storage shed, and squaring away the house was both hectic and gratifying. Cleaning the house, trimming the yard, and seeing three construction projects (fence, barn door, retaining wall) was both problematic and satisfying.

Then there are banks, bills, accounts, and large amounts of red tape.  Myriad arrangements were made, cars sold, and our dear Sugar Pie was kindly adopted for our trip by our neighbor Steve. All that is just to get away, then of course there are travel arrangements, lodging, transportation, reservations, visas, and a plethora of paperwork. I’m probably forgetting something, like I did on a daily basis.

Constantly there were goals to be met, to do lists check off, and yet, when it came down to there were one, two, thirty three more things to do. Of course, hours of packing and organizing were broken up by trips to pool, visits with friends, and making sure all our means had ends.

With Grandma/Mom the last day of August 2015…