Well lots of changes so might as well start at the beginning… of course you know how I jump from thought to thought so hang on and follow along….
So Thursday, Sept 17th started off my day with my last personal training session with Kurt James at Xsport Fitness in Elmhurst IL…. I knew about 10 minutes into the workout I was gonna be one sore cookie in a day or two… it’s like he had this evil plan to really make it tough.
Truth is the day really started with me thanking God for finally making this day a reality… from the moment I made the decision to move, on Dec 30, 2008, it’s seemed like forever in coming.
Now for a gal that drove close to 1700 miles in a weekend and didn’t get lost…. I, mmm…. Got all turned around leaving O’Hare after picking up my cousin. But finally we get back to Elmhurst and now it’s just waiting for the ABF guy to come with my relocate cubes.
Of course my helpers are there before the darn cubes… sigh…. So we started to stage the stuff downstairs in the parking lot so that when the cubes got there the process would go that much quicker. Finally about 1:30 (mind you my drop off window was 12-2 so imagine my shock and amazement when they showed up near the end of the time window… NOT).
I’d like to make a HUGE HUGE HUGE shout out to my friends Kevin Aldrich, David Russo and Robin Bergstrom for ALL of their help with this move… as well, my cousin Karl Salmon who flew from Florida to Illinois to help me load up and drive down south! I tell you without their help this move would have still happened, but nowhere near as smoothly as it did.
Finally the cubes arrive and the guys just took over loading that first cube with the precision of a surgeon. I think I MIGHT need a crowbar to get that first piece out… but it’s a good thing because hopefully it means nothing will have gotten tossed around too much…and well, if anything is broken it’s not like it’s not replaceable.
We had both cubes loaded within the allotted 2 hrs time frame, I paid my first installment, signed my copy and the drivers copy of the bills of lading and away he went to store my stuff in the Illinois facility until we find permanent housing in South Carolina…
Sadly my buddy David had to leave and pick up his daughter so he was unable to join us for a bite to eat. Another off tangent OCD moment for me… I really have not known David that long but I have to say he is a wonderful person… heart and soul! I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve had together and he and his family are the type of peeps you don’t say good bye to… only “See you later or See you soon” I am always amazed how people you ‘meet’ on the internet turn out to be some of the greatest and most wonderful human beings… I think I have met greater people and made close friends with relations that started out on the internet.
Ok back to the story….
Kevin, Robin, Karl, and I headed to Fuego Loco for a bite to eat… always good food there and reasonable in price. Then, well, it was ‘that’ time….time to say good-bye….or, well, see ya later….
It was harder than I thought it would be. The worst was saying good-bye to my family though…. After we ate Karl and I headed to my brothers in Indiana to stay the night….I was fine Thursday night…
Jayce covered up my grays (gosh who the hell will do that for me now, guess I’m gonna have to teach Matt or Trevor…. Mmm maybe not)… chatted with her and her friend Kay, who is a great kid… I’ve officially dubbed her my adopted niece….anyhow I was fine, just fine on Thursday… finally got to sleep around midnight… only to wake about 3:50 am just before my brother’s alarm went off for him to get up for work…
Saying good-bye to him broke me…. It really struck me that no longer would he be about a 90 minute drive away. I mean it’s not like I DIDN’T know this when I made the decision to move back in December but I guess the reality of it was coming full circle now… we hugged tight and neither wanted to let the other go but I think he was crying and wanted to get out the door so I wouldn’t see and I didn’t want him to see me crying…. After he left I got in the shower and just stood there, sobbing uncontrollably, it was real now… as much as I am and was looking forward to my new life with Matt and Trevor, the reality of leaving my brother was now very real…
I finally gathered my emotions and got out of the shower and dressed, then my sister in law called me in the room and well the tears started again…. Then it was time to wake up my niece and Kaye and say good-bye… Seriously I am over the top happy about being here with Matt and Trevor but I am seriously just as sad that it is no longer a reality that I can just hop in my car and drive to see my brother, Teri, Jayce and Gavin anymore…
Eventually the cousin and I got on the road… at 7am Central time or 8 am Eastern time. Honestly and thankfully the trip was relatively uneventful…. We switched drivers at every quarter of a tank of gas… we’d stop, fill up, stretch, potty break and get back on the road… never really ran into any traffic, even round Atlanta… the traffic we did hit there was more because of an accident that was blocking two lanes then it was rush hour traffic.
Now I have to say as hard as you try and sleep in the car… it ain’t easy… first I was excited just to be finally at this point of the move… second.. It’s not comfortable at all… but I drifted in and out when I was the passenger, snoozing for 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there but never really hitting a sound sleep…
The original plan was Matt was getting back from SC late Friday night… was going to meet him in Eustis and then he was going to drive with me to get cousin back to New Port Richey… ahhhh best laid plans… Matt was late getting back from SC into Orlando AND his cell phone was dead… so Karl and I are at the fork in the road so to speak of either we go to Eustis and get Matt or we drive ahead to NPR… not knowing what was going on with Matt I said just head toward New Port Richey (NPR).. well wouldn’t ya know… about 30 minutes after we made that decision Matt calls… at this point I was tired and irritated, not at Matt but I am sure that is how it came out…
I knew, as did everyone else, that by the time I got Karl to NPR it would be 1-1:30 am… and if I didn’t stay at his place it would mean another 2ish hours back east to get to my brothers… side note of my brother Noel was being a real ass and by this point I had decided heck with this I am just going to stay anywhere but his place.. at that moment side of the road would have been better… but MY reality is I needed and wanted to see Matt… I had waited 6 flipping weeks.. 6 weeks of crappy cell phone reception, 6 weeks of waiting, 6 weeks of lots of changes… I wanted and NEEDED to see my baby… and I was running on adrenaline at this point… I truly was not tired and knew if I tried to sleep it would be a waste of time… so even though I think my cousin was pissed at me.. I said I am dropping you off, hitting the potty and getting back on the road…and that is exactly what I did…
By this point Matt and I discussed just coming to his sister Mel’s… so I plugged that addy into my GPS and was looking at another 2 hrs from NPR to Eustis… I didn’t care I was WIDE awake… so at 3:30ish am I am rolling up Mel and Karl’s long drive and Matt is outside to greet me… I was definitely the hug that I needed because after that I could feel my body growing tired. Matt had a bed all set up for me in the TV room and I was laying down by 3:50 am… 24 hrs after I had woke up Friday… I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow… SO you think I’d sleep in till like noon right??? WRONG!... true to form for my body I was up at 7am.
I will say Saturday was a completely lazy day… bout the only thing I did do was go over to my brothers to gather the things I’d left there on my August trip… see when I was there in early August the plan was 6 wks from then I’d be a roommate to my brother and Brad for a bit..but life has a way of making changes on a dime or well really at God’s hand. So other than that it was hanging with Mel and Karl, getting to know Trevor and anticipating Sunday.
Sunday, Sept 20th, we got up, went to church, got to see Mason, Amber and Caleb again, then it was off to South Carolina after church…yes imagine another 6 hours in the car… woo hoo! The first half of the trip Trevor rode with Matt in his car… but after a ½ way gas and food stop, Trevor rode with me the rest of the way… I was nervous to say the least… I mean ok what am I, a 44 yr old never been a mom person, going to chat with a 7 yr old about for like, mmm, 3 hours? Well, EVERYTHING!
I must say at a few points this kid had me laughing hard, out loud… we were guessing each others favorite things from TV shows to cartoons, to favorite fast foods to ice cream… we were naming the future family pets and deciding what they’d be, we talked about school, sports… really bout a lot of things… at one point trying to name cartoon characters Trevor looked at me and said “Kim you just have to think like a 7 yr old” OMG I thought I’d pee my pants laughing…. I guess not really having been a mom and not having been around to many 7 yr olds… I am not in tune with the latest characters and such… I mean I’m stuck in the Flintstones and Jetson’s era… after I stopping laughing and crying cause I was laughing so hard… I told Trevor it would be part of his job to school me on how to think like a 7 yr old!
Well needless to say it’s now almost 7 pm… we’ve been in the car almost 6 hrs now… and of course as any 7 yr old would be… he is getting restless and watching the time on the arrival time on the GPS and not happy when a minute gets added to it because traffic has slowed… and me.. well I am SO sick of being in the car at this point it’s not even funny… so now both Trevor and I are getting excited as we get closer… we start doing the happy dance in our seats…
THEN……….. FINALLY….. the corporate housing apartment complex comes into view… OMG Trevor we are here! I don’t think you could have gotten us out of the car any faster… Trevor and I BOTH did a happy dance in the parking lot… I am sure anyone watching thought was the hell is their problem…
So before we start to unload the car Matt brings us up to our new temp place of living…and what a sweetheart he is… as we walk in he left notes for us before he left on Friday… one note to both Trevor and I right as we walk in (which sadly he had to point out cause both Trevor and I missed it)
Welcome home, make yourself comfortable!! I love you both!
Was the note we were greeted with… then in Trevor’s room Matt had left a note for Trevor and in our room he left a note for me, posted to the mirror…it was very sweet… I’ve saved the notes..
Then came the unpacking my car and Matt’s… Trevor helped with some stuff but mainly he was excited to have his own room and was quickly unpacking his suitcase and putting his things away… putting his stuffed animals on his bed and making it his own place… then finally about 10pm Matt and I had everything out of the cars… then it was time for some sleep…
The next day found us taking Trevor to the school to finish enrollment… but we had decided we’d just start him on Tuesday we were all tired… so Matt went off to work and Trevor and I did some exploring of our area… hit the super Wal-Mart for some groceries and then just driving up and down roads around us to see what was where near us..
Tuesday, Sept 22nd Matt and I both took Trevor to school…. OMG I thought I’d cry when we left him at the classroom… it’s never easy being the new kid and the look on his face said it all… and immediately it took me back to all those feelings I had growing up of changing schools and being the new kid…. I mean it seriously was like an out of body moment as all those fears and feelings came rushing back to me…then Matt went off to work and I off to figure out what SAHM do… I finished unpacking stuff, did some laundry and by the time I knew it, it was time to pick up Trevor…
Well it’s this process to pick up your kids… you get this number on a placard that also has their grade on it… and your kid has the same number on their back pack.. you pull into this long line of cars of parents picking up their kids as you enter the school’s circular drive there is a staff member there with a walkie talkie who radios in your number and kids grade… at this point the kids are in the cafeteria area but when you get to that first staff member they shuttle your kid outside under the awning… then as you get up to the front of the school your kid is outside, they call out their number as you approach the pickup point and put your kid in the car…. But let me just say… the entire time that first day the scene from Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton kept playing in my head
“north to drop off, south to pick up, you’re doing it wrong you moron….. ”
Well I must have done it right cause no one called me a moron.. least not to my face…. And Trevor got in the car and at least had a smile on his face so that was a good sign… and Matt… oh my sweet Matt… guess he is not used to having someone to lean on.. he called me at like 1:30 to remind me to pick up Trevor at 2:10… then no sooner was Trevor IN the car… my phone is ringing and its Matt wondering if I remembered to pick up Trevor…. I just had to laugh because I know I would have done the exact same thing…
Pretty much the rest of the first week was uneventful… now getting these two out of bed in the mornings is a challenge to say the least… given the chance they’d both sleep till noon if you let them… me I’m or I have become a morning gal… Then Sunday night of that first week… Trevor started feeling bad and feeling warm… kept him home Monday… since both Matt and I are here sans thermometer I went to the store and got one… indeed he was running a temp 101.4… he stayed home again on Tuesday…. By Tuesday night he was bouncing around… sent him to school which was a ½ day anyhow on Wednesday… and by Thursday night when I picked him up from school… he was feeling bad again… running a temp again and crying if you touched his ear… I’ve had ear issues as a kid.. I know that pain and when it hurts to touch it… well try just try to be new in town and get a flipping DR appt… either none available or sorry we are not taking new patients… so I went to CVS thinking hey they have minute clinics at CVS in Illinois…. Mmm not so here in South Carolina… but the nice ladies at the local CVS directed me to the Med Center where they take walk ins… I knew he really wasn’t feeling well when he climbed in my lap and wanted to be held… yes that is something a kid will do with their own parent but I am not Trevor’s parent so when he climbed in my lap at the med center and just wanted to be held I knew he wasn’t feeling well… and trust me while I don’t want him to be sick in any way shape or form… I thought it was a very sweet gesture of trust on his part and I was very touched that he trusted me in this way.
Turns out he had a middle and outer ear infection… so we got antibiotic drops and an oral antibiotic and by this past weekend he was much better and wondering why he still had to take the meds…
And while I realize Trevor is getting used to me by his action at the DR office.. I also know he is getting used to me because he is no longer on best behavior… I’m still deciding if that is a good or bad thing…LOL! I just try and be aware of the fact these are a lot of changes for a 7 yr old to grasp all at once… new town, new school, a person in dad’s life…
So there is an update for y’all… just learning about each other, learning how to function as a unit of three… searching for a permanent place to call home… there have been changes for all of us, but I think we will all get it figured out along the way.. not like we have to have it down to a groove from day one…
I just pray that God gives me some guidance in how to do this right…. The resolve to give up some of my independence, the forethought to think before I speak sometimes and the knowledge of how to make this work for the long term… I’ve always expected things to be perfect, it’s that perfectionist child in me and when they are not perfect I get frustrated and want to throw in the towel… and sadly I think I’ve tossed some great ‘towels’ out of my life because EYE was the problem..my inpatients, my stubbornness, my in ability to let others do things for me… but God has lead me here… I know He will give me the tools I need to work on my areas that need improvement…
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