We're really going! We're driving 2000 miles with all of our stuff and the cat and we're going to a place where we know one person and only one of us has a job. Are we crazy?
When I got out of bed in the morning my head was spinning. I slept about 2 hours, maybe - MAYBE - and that was just before it was time to get up. My whole body ached so badly from the lifting and carrying the day before, that all my parts just sort of throbbed in unison. We had to get some food in our stomachs and have a last hug goodbye. We had a 5 hour drive to Illinois to visit Jim's 95 year old grandmother overnight, then off on our cross-country adventure. I was crazy tired, but at least there would be a lot of sitting and relaxing. For entertainment I brought my copy of the Complete Book Of Chinese Health And Healing, two Qi Gong books and my journal. After we had breakfast and desert, then turned down more breakfast and then more desert, we were ready to roll.
Jim's father hugged us goodbye and then remained in the house. It was too hard for him to watch us go, especially because of the main reason we were leaving: Jim's health. Jim has a serious lung condition and Michigan is a terrible place for him. For his well being we found a way to make this move happen. Jim's mother walked out with us and almost didn't let him go. It made me cry to see them so sad, but I knew that we were doing the right thing.
Finally we were off, my Saturn Vue riding along behind on a car carrier, the cat in the cab with us and a forecast of heavy thunderstorms!
So there we were, one hour later, on I-23 south, going about 60 miles per hour because the van was full of our stuff, and we were pulling an SUV, for crying out loud! The moving van was maxed-out, and for that matter, so was the cat. She was having some sort of anxiety attack on my lap: panting and practically drooling. I thought her poor little 13 year old heart was going to burst right there in the cab of the moving van. We were almost to Indiana before she started to calm down. After a couple of hours Sophie, the anxious little cat began to relax and explore the tight boundaries of the moving van cab. Thank goodness.
SOPHIA TIRED AND SHAGGED OUT AFTER A PROLONGED ANXIETY ATTACK AT HAVING TO RIDE IN A MOVING VAN. I BELIEVE THIS WAS AFTER ABOUT THREE OR FOUR DAYS. SOMWHERE IN TEXAS, MAYBE.
My eyes savoured all the spring-time green of the last bits of Michigan as we made our way closer to the state line. The trees were just starting to look pretty here and there, daffodils blooming, crocuses on their way out. There were so many trees in the places where development hadn't reached yet. Would they still be there when I come back to visit? Hope so. I won't be seeing green things for a while, (unless I drive up to Flagstaff). I cherished the forests and streams that still dared to be, in a place becoming quickly carved up by developers. I hate to sound completely sappy, but it really was bitter-sweet.
The rain came in sheets here and there, threatening us. IT was heavy, it was light, it was awful, it was delicate. As we neared the Michigan-Indiana border the rain became seriously threatening. As we got closer to the last Michigan mile marker it became downright dramatic, with a thunderous downpour so serious that we couldn't see more than 20 feet or so in front of the truck. The sound of the rain beating the roof of the van was so loud we couldn't hear each other, the cat was hiding again and it looked like we would have to pull over. But then we crossed into Indiana and just like that, the rain slowed to a gentle drizzle, and we cold see again. Was Michigan threatening us? Just like that, our sad, boring lives in Michigan were over and the adventure was really on.
Onward we barrelled into our new lives, at a speed of 60 miles per hour, (okay, we weren't exactly barrelling), and wondered how it would change us. I planned on being skinnier and tanner, Jim planned on having healthier lungs and bicycling every day. Sophie the cat planned on getting out of the moving van and pooping in a normal size litter box again. But first - on to gramma's house in farm country, Illinois. Gramma Rapp doesn't know we have a cat, or are bringing the cat that she doesn't know we have, and that we plan to bring the cat into her house. Stay tuned for the next installment when we sneak our 13 year old cat into our 95 year old gramma's house!
No comments:
Post a Comment