RV Poetry

We are closer to our dream, but still so far away if it were to be measured, but I choose not to measure.  Today Leon has painted and I have sorted papers… the job I put off  ’til almost last.  I made great progress today, and that means what?  It means I grabbed the easiest papers, obviously.  I have enough scanning to keep me going all week, if I have the patience, and that doesn’t even include my poetry that I may not have already in the computer.  The shred pile is getting heavier and there is so much, for the second time we have chosen not to shred it ourselves but take it to a UPS store or similar and let them do it instead.  The recycling bins are filling up!  The trash waits me to feed it a few more tidbits.  But this keeps me away from the paint and I occasionally jump on line and type a  blog entry or read one of yours.  The world is right. Well, that is not true, but right now, our world, Leon’s and mine, is right for us.

Now if the painter would just make contact with us… Here, let me send telepathy to him, maybe that will work.

May the gray skies or bright sun bring a smile to your face.

Tweet This Post

Just Old People

Just old people, they are

languishing in their beds
or propped up in chairs

some

perking up when a friendly
person greets them
as they pull them back up
in their chairs
or push their flopped
arm or foot back onto the bed

I am quite sure that tired nurse,
that tired assistant,
that tired maintenance man
was friendly for those few minutes
they stopped to chat

or was that just 30 seconds in passing?

And here we are chatting for hours with our friends
sitting in front of another boring TV show,
filing our nails
reading that book for the third time
buying another pair of shoes (instead of a card or flowers
or a picture to hang on their wall or)

We should be ashamed
We probably are

We pick up the phone
and call

no, not our elderly widow or widower who are sitting home
but our best friend

no, not to meet us at the nursing home or assisted living facility
or to go shopping for a card or flowers or

but to meet us at the golf course.

Marcia McLees Bogaert
(MeeAugraphie)
09/27/07

Written as part of the Stop Abuse project linked below…

Yes, I am normally as guilty as the rest of you…. Let’s not any of us feed our guilt anymore….

I also wrote about three other abuses, links to all four can be found here: McLeesBogaert

Please, if you have something to say about Abuse, any Abuse, speak up, say it…. say it in your blog, post it on someone else’s blog, write it somewhere, say it out loud…. One of us will make a difference. It doesn’t matter which one of us as long as it is someone.

Tweet This Post

Whatever type of blog you write, tomorrow, September 27th is your opportunity to join others in writing about abuse of any kind… and sadly there are still many kinds of abuse…. You know some of them, others may have gotten shoved into the back of your mind, waiting.

We all have voices that need to be heard by others. One never knows which turn of a phrase or different word will get through to someone else. Be a part of the challenge, challenge yourself to speak out tomorrow. Click on the link above to read more about it.

I am taking up the challenge on all four blogs. I will write on child molestation, abuse of the elderly by neglect, child abandonment, and one other… So many to choose from. See you out here tomorrow.

Tweet This Post

I am the world’s best procrastinator and it has set in again.  The first part of our downsizing and sorting went beautifully, easily. The few things left in the house are necessities until we close and lock the doors and leave, except for the paperwork…. We shredded and sorted a lot of it… but we have more to go.  I got bored scanning, mainly because the scanner is painfully slow. Today I have to start scanning again…and I have put it off via emails, writing a poem, posting on the blogs, searching the internet, and so on.  I can put it off no longer.  Wait! I can, I can sort through more papers to mail that we know we are not scanning due to size or amount. Yes, I will separate them, box them temporarily, we may need a stronger box.

We put off putting the house on the market because we couldn’t get enough stuff done fast enough, even with our friends rushing over to help last weekend. We may put it on in a day or so, but may end up just leaving it with a relative and going to Florida without buying the RV first…. Not our original plan, but flexibility may as well be practiced now, I am sure we will need it once we buy our RV.

Yes, we are moving to Florida, declaring residency there and Leon is changing careers. We will be closer to family and farther from the weather we love….  but he should be able to work only 5 months or so a year and we will be able to RV most of the year as a result… an extended vacation. Can’t beat that.

Without the house sold on time, we have to forgo buying the RV until it is, but that just gives us more time to get confused which RV we want that is affordable (to us).  We want a Class A Safari Trek, but it is gas, and we want diesel for the mountains we will be traveling twice every year.  We also want a class C with a truck body, 4 wheel drive…. I am sure there is more out there we would want that I just haven’t found yet..

So, we have just lost 2 partial work-on-the-house days due to his current job in the next week, but it may be a welcome break from painting and cleaning, right?  We gained 2 full days by scheduling his last two vacation days soon so we can work hard those two days.  So, if he is working that hard, I need to scan that hard…. heehee…

OK, procrastination for today is over…. Off to sort, scan, and clean something…

Tweet This Post

To store or not to store! That is the question.  Shakespeare’s, “To be or not to be,” has nothing on the question of beginning RVers. I have seen more written on that than which kind of RV.

OK. That was an exaggerated last fact, but people do struggle with it. Downsizing is difficult for people used to buying more and more.  Leon and I have downsized somewhat before – and resized.    We are not having to deal with a struggle on store or not. Our decision was made immediately.

We are storing, but only a few things to put in the park model once we buy it next Spring.  Even if things work out way beyond our expectations and we buy it before Thanksgiving, we will leave things in storage until we get it caulked, cleaned, aired out, etc.  It is small enough without giving it that initial cleaning while it is filled with stuff!

Our house is a disaster right now. Things are everywhere, some already sorted: RV or sell.  The majority of what we are storing  was moved to the storage unit last night.  WooHOO! We are making progress.

Of course, we take the first load, get caught in a traffic jam and get there a bit close to closing. We had used the same facility when we moved out here, so he didn’t bother walking us out to the unit. Ten minutes until closing, we began unloading the few boxes we had.

Fifteen minutes after closing, we locked the door.  OK. We did not really lock the door.  We had bought a new lock from the man there because the two from before were safely at home, grin. It was a different style.

“Will this lock work on all the units? Leon asked.

“Yes.”

WRONG.  Our door was missing the second tab. Only the other kind could be used.  At least most of the traffic was going in the opposite direction, because we drove all the way home to get another lock, having no proof had actually put our stuff in their storage. (unless they had cameras we didn’t see)

Since we had to go home anyway, loaded the car again, grabbed the locks, and stored the rest.  That meant, however, we didn’t eat until after 8, and had to grab “fast food” rather than the dinner we had planned — or eat well after 9.  Normally, that would have really really frustrated me, but I must already be switching to the RV mode. (That made me smile.)

So, it is real… we are going to get an RV. Now, house, sell.  Someone want our house and be willing to spend money for it right away!  ‘Cause if you do, we can all have Thanksgiving where we want to be, you in your new home, and us in Florida with our son and daughter-in-law.  Otherwise, we will have to miss Thanksgiving with them.

Tweet This Post