It has begun. One life over and another begins.
I worked my last week employed as an official eye poker and said goodbye to the friends I made there at St Lucie Eye. It feels like I have spent an entire week saying goodbye. I am sadder than I ever thought I would be in leaving Florida. Despite my terrible attitude about this state, I found myself truly sad as I packed to leave it behind. It amazes me how quickly the time slipped away from when Dennis and I first decided to try this move to France, to here we are...the condo is packed and Dennis moves everything this weekend. Conveniently I am currently visiting my parents and sisters in my hometown, having abandoned my patient husband to the horrors of moving. And then, to make it even worse, my dear Dennis is driving Anna up to RI next week. He says he will make the trip non-stop in 18 hours....we shall see.
I decided to pack cardboard boxes instead of luggage so that I could get as much for the 100 pounds I was allowed. Brilliant! After all, standard luggage on its own weighs ten pounds...that's just ridiculous! Except that my boxes came out of the luggage conveyor at the airport looking like they had been dropped from the airplane's cargo bay at 30,000 feet. Not so brilliant after all. I am undeterred. So a plan B is needed to get my 100 pounds of clothes and shoes to France in 13 days. I'm thinking maybe I just need thicker, stronger cardboard. I will prevail. Who needs conventional luggage? Not me. Soon everyone will want to be cool like me and bring cardboard to the airport. Who needs Louis Vuitton?
My mother and I spent the morning in the backyard sunning ourselves peacefully, until my sister Jen (otherwise known as the skin cancer/safe sun time police) arrived and began nagging us, like a well intentioned fly. "zzzzzzzzz I can't believe you two buzzzzzzzz...you guys are such freaks laying in the sun....zzzzz...don't you know how dangerous the sun is?....zzzzzzzzz ...its so hot out there......zzzz".) After a few minutes of that, I gave it up and Jen and I went out to a local favorite restaurant of mine for lunch. Walking out to my sister's car I noticed a handsome sock monkey sitting in the backseat, giving my a jaunty smile. His name? Pierre. We fell in love instantly. I can't believe I ever lived without him.
So Pierre and I are relaxing in my parents' house as we await our dinner to be ready. The house is kept at a brisk 65 degrees, so to stay warm I have a hot cup of tea with me, that keeps cooling off before I can finish it. It's 90 degrees outside. I think the windows may ice over soon.
So I am being spoiled while my husband and my dog live out the next few days in a cardboard jungle down in Florida. I am a terrible person.
