Transitions – Putting it Together Bit by Bit- Labor Day

Well, gentle reader, I hope you won’t think less of us because we scrapped our Travels with Charley plan to drive across the country with our ninety-four-year-old dad in his 2016 Hyundai Sonata packed to the gills with all of his belongings from thirty years and two of his three children. Every day last week my older brother and I have had a messy/fun adventure looking for packing supplies or other sundry things. One day we sought out a wardrobe box and tried to drop off four bags of clothing that dad no longer needed. Off we went at 3:30 in the afternoon in Washington, D.C. for a u-haul store in Gaithersburg. Somewhere about 10 minutes (read two more hours with traffic) from our destination, we decided to turn around and look for a collection box to dump the clothing and postpone the wardrobe box search until the morning. Don pulled up a drop off site which was five minutes away, but it turned to be a house in a residential neighborhood, and I overshot the driveway so he had to carry the four bags back across two yards and then dropped them on the back porch of the house, which was a Community Assistance for Families location.

The next morning, I realized that I had thrown all of dad’s sweaters in the bag, both the good ones and the ones he was discarding. Moving too fast. Also on that Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Don was busy booking our return to Los Angeles for Saturday because he said Saturday’s the best day to fly. He did this all magically on his phone while we were in the car, after checking it with dad by phone.

The next morning, it was clear to all of us that we were indeed moving too fast. We didn’t have the pod to move all his books, etc. to California, and Saturday was just too tight, so Don quickly shifted the tickets to Tuesday, Sept.2 instead.

It has become clear on this journey that my brother and I are a good logistics team. Don is a work horse – one day he single handedly carried about 15 boxes of paper to be shredded outside to the carport while I was busy consolidating dad’s clothing. The next day he carried all the packed boxes from upstairs to downstairs while I finished wrapping some art. And the morning we took all the boxes downstairs, he carried all the heavy ones. It was his birthday. Happy birthday, Don!

He organized the pod and arranged to ship the car to LA.

I purchased all the furniture for dad’s new spot in LA, and the “load-in” is scheduled for September 9th. In general, I make the food and Don clears the table and does the dishes. It takes me back to our childhood when we had a rotation of setting the table, doing the dishes that was LED, Larry, Els, Don. Unfortunately Larry isn’t able to be here with us this week but we are looking forward to folding him in when we get back to LA. Both Don and I went to play golf for the last time last Wednesday, with almost all of dad’s golf buddies. Chris, whose father Dad used to play golf with and has played with Chris for years brought his wife, Joanne to ride along. Chris organized a farewell golf game with several other regulars. It was extremely festive and here are some shots from before and after the game. There were five in the group plus Joanne and me. We had a very festive dinner on Saturday evening at Meiwah Restaurant. Dad and Sally have been going there once a week for about two years. Highly recommend.

It has been a week of goodbyes for Dad. Goodbye after a tuneup with the audiologist, goodbye after picking up his medical records from his long time internist, goodbyes to all of the beautiful caregivers, some of whom had taken care of Sally and him over the last four years. Goodbye to his secretary, Jayne, and his driver, Cosimo. It’s been an emotional week for all of us. Just saying goodbye to their beautiful home, with it’s indoor and outdoor spaces, including the school next door, where he’s done his walk every day for thirty years.

And finally, goodbye to the Stave puzzles. I finished my last one this afternoon. Tomorrow is our travel day. Wish us luck!