Even though I don’t plan to move for a few more years, I’m surrounded at the moment by others’ plans for new homes and new beginnings.
Firstborn has his sights set on getting his license, getting a new (used) car, and getting into a new line of mechanical work.
Secondborn has chosen a college, and they’ve made quite the detailed list of the things they’ll need by the end of the summer. (They’re also thoroughly sick of the high school experience and ready to leave all that behind — except for the friends they plan to bring along with them as college roommates.)
MiddleSon left his job so that he could take a break and get rehired to the same job at a higher wage and then accept a promotion (and another raise). He’s looking forward to driving, car-buying, and finding out what will come after high school for him.
Youngest turned 15 today, an excellent Mother’s Day gift for me; sometimes it lines up that way. Today we (MiddleSon and I) gave him the gift of a shopping trip. He usually hates to be dragged along shopping, but since this was all about him he had time to warm to the idea. We had a brief outing to Goodwill for other purposes, then we were off to a local shopping area to visit GameStop and Target, where we came up empty. Then someone proposed going to Half Price Books, and you don’t exactly have to twist my arm to get me to drive there. So I bought lunch for the boys (and a drink for myself) and we headed off to a larger town, a suburb of Milwaukee. HPB has followed by a jaunt to Best Boy, and then to a local CD/DVD/game resale shop, but it was during a trip to Barnes & Noble that we finally made it to the mall.
Youngest picked out two manga volumes and a pack of Pokémon cards at B&N, and I got a book as well, but it felt a bit odd to visit a mall. It looked almost as busy as in non-pandemic times, but we found that some of the stores we wanted to visit were just… gone. Signs in the empty retail spaces directed us toward “replacement” stores that didn’t have anything close to what we wanted. It was a reminder that the pandemic had kept a lot of businesses from moving forward, and I’m starting to become a bit concerned about where I’ll find proper shoes. (Thank goodness that sandals ought to suffice for the summer.)
Another new beginning concerns a car of our that we’ve taken care of since 2011. It slotted nicely into a #2 role in a car lineup that has varied widely over the years, but recently it has developed enough limitations that Eldest and I have come to the conclusion that it’s time for us to let it go and find a more appropriate second car.
Trixie has been a family car since the day she was purchased by Opa Hall in 1999, and we love her. But we may have identified the perfect new owner — who once owned her identical twin! — and we’re preparing for her transition to a new home.
At work I have friends who are retiring after many years of service to the campus community, and I also have friends who are resigning to take different paths in their lives. Some people are keeping the same job but changing houses; others are adding to their families or to their educations. In many ways, the next academic year will be a difficult one for me and I’m doing my best to prepare for the changes. Busy is good — busy is good.
This week my household also transitioned to a new television, after the old one — which we had had for approximately three years — had quietly died. The new television, ordered sight unseen from Best Buy so that we could receive next-day delivery, turned out to be an Amazon Fire TV, which was not quite what we had anticipated. We eventually managed to hit upon the settings for viewing our cable channels and accessing the files on our DVR, but as of right now we’re still looking at it a bit askance. It may have been the change that finally shoved us out of our emotional comfort zone for the week. The DVR is mostly cleared out again, we’ve been able to play video games on it, and perhaps we’ll eventually try to access our Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts on it. But don’t make us go too quickly!
The dog is changing, too. With Monty’s last birthday and the conversion of his age to the human equivalent, he became the oldest creature in the house. I was still startled when the vet mailed me regarding [what I am calling] their Senior Discount package. It’s not exactly a Golden Buckeye card, but I’m going to sign him up. Monty’s beginning to show signs of changing and — in certain circumstances — slowing down, and it’s a good idea to be aware of the condition of his vision, hearing, and joint flexibility. The goal is to give him a comfortable life after the rough start he had to it, so this should help quite a bit.
Some of these changes may look easy, but others are going to be traumatic. I hope that incorporating some positive changes that take the form of self-help will serve to ease my own path to the future. It’s a short life and we just have to do our best.
Knitwise, there’s been no knitting. I think about the “square” shawl I was working on, and remember anew that I should search to see if I have more yarn in the stash to finish it properly. Then I look at the other things I need to do, and I defer that task yet again. Most often I notice my dining room table, which has become too cluttered with various unfinished projects to allow any of us a place to actually dine. (Or breakfast, or lunch.) It has become a source of frustration for everyone, and this coming week I’ll try to get it cleared off. The week’s unseasonably cool temperatures should keep me inside, so I might as well make the most of the chance to make my living space more useful and less stressful.
Chocolate Sheep 