On Monday, the 12th, it will be 14 months since John died…14 months that I’ve been alone attempting to sort through all the crap he left behind. Yes, I’ve made progress and I’ll detail that in a bit, but today, it seems as though he and his presence has been gone from my life a far shorter time. Does this grieving ever end or does it keep returning when least expected and smack you right upside the head…or heart…or whatever?
So, rather than dwell on loss,
I’ll report on progress. Some of you may already know that I had a garage sale.
It lasted three days, but only four hours on the third day. At times, depending
on what walked away from the driveway and on how cheaply it went, I’d look up over
the house, expecting to see the Karlberg Memorial Apple Tree in flames or at
least smoking. What didn’t sell at the garage sale took three trips to Goodwill
with the back of Ravi filled to the brim and there’s quite possibly one trip to
go.
Still, John got even with
me for getting rid of his stuff at the garage sale. I drove Ravi on Thursday
night so Haley could put up the signs. Then I parked her across the end of the
driveway and she didn’t move again until Sunday afternoon when it was time to
take down the signs. When I started Ravi, three dashboard lights came on,
including the “check engine” light. So, Monday I called Magic Toyota and got an
appointment for the afternoon. Turns out it was an oxygen sensor at a cost of
$509 and change. I figure John crept out from under the tree on Saturday night
and broke it on purpose. Still passive-aggressive in death.
Just this past week, I
called the 1-800-GOT JUNK folks and they came out and hauled away five filing
cabinets and a bunch of metal. Yes, I had to pay them, but it’s all gone and
won’t be coming back. Just this week, I also parked Ravi in the garage…the
first time a car of mine has resided in the garage in 51.5 years. Ravi really
likes it in there and I do too. I’ll especially love it when it freezes and I
don’t have to scrape the windows to see.
Over these 14 months, AJ,
Thor and Haley have each hauled stuff to their homes to keep as well as a
couple truckloads of stuff to the dump. I personally recycled boxes of
magazines at the Shoreline Waste Management location. I also took two
truckloads of hazardous stuff to the hazardous waste collection site in
Seattle.
Last weekend, Thor came
and loaded up all the collectible cards John had acquired, including the Coco
Cola and Harley Davidson Gold cards. He’s much more savvy about selling on
E-Bay, so perhaps at some point I’ll get a few dollars from those. It doesn’t
really matter because at least I do not have to spend time sorting and
cataloguing and trying to figure out how much any of them are worth.
And, did you know they
make collectible smut cards? I believe I reported on finding porn in John’s
room and closet about a year ago and how he took it from friends whose wives
found it and said it had to go. I never saw him with any of it and I also knew
he couldn’t have watched the videos or DVDs because he couldn’t operate those
players. Well, apparently, he actually purchased these cards, about the size of
a card from a deck of cards. Not only that, but he organized them in three-ring
binders and in some cases in plastic baggies with notations about which ones he
didn’t have. He even flattened and saved the boxes in which they came. He must
have done all this while I was still working because I didn’t have any idea
about smut cards until I began cleaning out one of the safes.
How can you live with a
man for almost 55 years and not have any idea about some of his interests and
hobbies? I really thought I knew him well, but after spending the last year
going through all the crap in the garage and his room, I must have spent a
couple of decades or more with a stranger even though it didn’t seem that way.
So why do I still have days like this where I miss him so much.
So, things are moving
along here. About the only thing left to finish up are the stamps. I began
organizing them last fall and will complete that this winter. Then, the boys
can take their notebook of airmail stamps to their homes and one of them can
keep the remainder of the collection or they can split it. I do have to say
that it’s a good thing we didn’t depend on John’s collectibles for our
retirement. If that had been it, we’d have been living on the street in no
time. It’s like the saying about one man’s treasure being another man’s gold…the
problem is you have to find someone who thinks your treasure is their gold and
that’s not easy to do.
I’ve tentatively made
plans for the future. What I’d like to do is hire a company to do an estate
sale around about May 2021. With the exception of the things I want to keep,
the remainder can be purchased by whoever comes by looking for a deal. Then,
the house will go on the market in May/June 2021.
Meanwhile, once a week or
so, I go to Redfin and look at property for sale. I would love to have
something on a small river or lake so I could kayak first thing in the mornings.
That may not be possible, but a piece of land that already has utilities
available would be good and if it had a view even better.
I’m also looking at tiny
houses…not the really tiny ones, but 1,000 square feet or less. I’d love to be
my own project manager having it built just the way I want it on the property I
find. Time will tell if I can manage to work all this out.
Of course, my ideal plan
would find me in Costa Rica November through March each year enjoying the
tropical breezes and great weather. And who knows, maybe I can make that happen
once I’ve sold the house and whatever plans I make come to fruition.
Still, no one really talks
much about how a 24/7 period can stretch out so it seems more like an entire
month. Of course, no one planned on this pandemic either and I’m sure my life
would be a lot different than it is if I could have followed that one February
cruise with additional trips to here and there and everywhere.
When days like this rise
up and smack me one, I try to remember it’s up to me to CHOOSE how I react. I
remind myself life could be much worse, i.e., I could LACK an income, family, friends,
neighbors, good health, Facebook, good books, gardening, the ability to amuse
myself with writing SHE chapters, etc. Instead, I’m fortunate to have all those
things in my life and they all make my life ever so much better. On days like
this, I am very grateful for what I do have.