The latter part of May 2009, Richard and I packed up all our stuff and moved to south Georgia. I had been unable to find a job in Atlanta and money had run out. After Mama passed away in 2007, we decided that when we retired we wanted to get out of the big city, and live in a smaller town and be closer to my dad. This was our 2nd move in 6 months. Richard would move in with my stepfather in Atlanta and continue to work up there until he retired, and he would come home on the weekends.
We put our stuff in storage and moved what we could into my dad’s. Daddy’s 84 now, and while he does pretty well for someone that age, he has trouble getting around because of his legs. It was quite an adjustment for him since he had lived alone for over 20 years. There were times where I thought I had made a big mistake by moving in with him, but we managed to work it out.
Then in July, Daddy started looking at larger mobile homes. At first I thought he was looking for a larger one to give us more space, but found out that he was actually looking for me. He said there just wasn’t enough room, and deep down I know he missed his privacy. I told him I didn’t want him using his money for me, but when Daddy makes up his mind to do something, there’s no changing his mind.
After a couple of weeks, he found one that he and I really liked. It was a 3 bedroom doublewide that was in great condition on 1.2 acres of land and only 7 miles from him. He bought the property the first part of August, and I moved in. Daddy says no one can make us move now. Both Richard and I are so very grateful, and while I say never say never, we are never moving again.
It’s a lot less stressful living in the country than living in the city. I can look outside and actually see the stars at night because the sky isn’t lit up by city lights. There’s a lot more privacy. We can play our stereo as loud as we want when we’re watching a movie. We have room to expand. There are definite pluses to living here.
But there are some drawbacks. What I miss the most is the high speed internet. The closest town is Waycross. It’s 15 miles away, and it’s a small town. I can’t just hop in the car and be at the grocery store in 5 minutes. We have a Kroger, Walmart, Lowe’s, Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday and a few fast food restaurants. We even have a mall, but it’s very small and only has J.C. Penney’s, Belk’s, and Sears. No Chili’s, no Kohl’s, no Home Depot, no Great Clips. I have found a Chinese restaurant that I really like.
The town I live in now is so small that there is no traffic light. You actually pass right through it on the way to our home. Richard still works in Atlanta during the week and comes home on the weekend. I’m close enough to Daddy that I can be there in about 10 minutes. While I have a lot of family here, I really miss not being near my kids who both are still near Atlanta.
There’s plenty of room here for a garden and a water garden/pond. Richard’s got lots of plans and projects he wants to work on. Right now he’s working on building an outside shed to store our lawn equipment. Then he wants to start on a deck for the front.
Richard comes home every Friday afternoon and leaves Monday mornings. I really look forward to the time when he retires and moves down here permanently. I know he’ll be glad too.
So this city girl has gone country. I love living here. Life is good.
We celebrated Ayden’s first birthday this past Saturday. He and his mom have been members of a mom’s group ever since he was born, and most of the babies from that group were at the party. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with that many babies all at one time for that length of time. I was amazed at how well all the little ones got along with each other. They were all so adorable.
Here are the pics that I took at the party.
Richard and I went down to my dad’s on February 6. Richard hadn’t seen the puppy dogs since we took them down in December, and I hadn’t seen my dad since my short visit after Christmas. Richard had a long weekend, and we planned on coming back Feb. 10. I decided to stay a few days longer, so Richard came on back home without me.
Daddy lives in the country, and there is no DSL or broadband available, so I was limited to a NetZero dial-up account. Just checking email and updating my checking account seemed to take forever to do compared to what I can accomplish in just a few seconds at home.
We went fishing just about every day. My aunt Ginger and Daddy both caught some really nice size bass, and that tickled them to no end. Except for one day when I caught a smaller bass and another good size fish, the only fish I caught were small bream. It didn’t matter though because I still enjoyed myself. I love just sitting by the pond and communing with nature.
I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with Daddy. He is getting so feeble though. He almost fell in the kitchen one day and almost fell while fishing. I worry about him falling and not being able to get to a phone to call for help. His golf cart was broken when we got there, and he is really lost without it. He just isn’t able to get around outside like he used to be. Luckily though the owner of the golf cart shop came out and fixed it on Wednesday.
Daddy can be cantankerous at times. Talk about a short fuse! It’s uncanny how much alike he and my son Travis can be at times with their temper. He still treats me like I’m a little girl, and he says I’ll always be his baby. I just wish he would give me a little credit. He acts like I don’t know how to do things and can be critical at times.
He did enjoy me cooking for him and doing some household stuff for him. He’s not used to having anyone to wait on him and try to take care of him.
I would have stayed longer with him if the timing had been better. Ayden turns one year old this week, and I am not about to miss his first birthday party.
Richard came back on Friday to get me. We decided to bring Cody back home with us. Richard said he had really missed him. Cody’s got an eye infection that I’m treating with antibiotic ointment, and it does seem to be getting better. So now we have both Chelsea and Cody with us. It was so cute last night to see both Cody and Chelsea in Richard’s lap while he was watching tv.
Good things happened overall this week.
My sister had the MRI on her liver on Monday and got the results back on Wednesday. The doctor wants to see her again in six months, so thankfully no surgery at this time. I think she’s done with doctors for a while.
I got my order of black-out curtains for the bedroom yesterday from JC Penney and got them hung. They’re a deep maroon color which is quite a bit darker than the original ones I bought from Walmart. The room is completely dark now at night, and Richard loves it.
The new upgrade to Thesis came out on Wednesday. I was so excited to try the new features. Only one problem. All I got was a blank page. When I checked the DIY forums, I realized a lot of other folks were having the same problem. I gave the author access to my site, and during the night he was able to isolate the problem and come up with a fix. It’s working just fine now. I really like the new version and highly recommend it.
Nothing new to report on the job front. I just hope I get some callbacks on the positions I’ve applied for.
My son and I have had several video calls this week so I can see Ayden. In fact, I think Ayden is getting used to seeing me in the evenings and looks forward to it himself. He’s always right there at the camera whenever we connect ready to babble and tell me about his day.
I just wish I could do the same with Kaylee and see her more often.
