Of Pancakes and Brake Pads

(Scott's photo of one of the trees in our yard)

The dust has settled. We are in our new home, smaller, more intimate and cozy, and $600 cheaper :D It’ll probably be months before we find everything. Our garage is detached (and it’s HUGE!), which requires an internal discussion before we head out there for any reason. We’re already rethinking the decision to put the extra fridge and upright freezer out there…Still, when we look all over the house for something and can’t find it, we realize with a somewhat sinking heart that “it’s probably in the garage.” But spring has to come sometime, doesn’t it?

It’s been quite a task to unpack, which is usually my favorite part of moving. But this house is much smaller, so there are no vast wastelands of storage. We’ve really simplified our lives out of necessity, and that’s a very good thing. So the process is therapeutic, but it takes some real thinking before anything gets put away. And sometimes more than one try.

One thing I had hoped I would find has been available in great abundance. I mentioned on my Facebook status update this morning that Darryl made pancakes for breakfast. Scott and Kristi have no school today because it snowed pretty hard yesterday. My court day was also canceled, so all four of us were home. In fact, we slept in till nearly 9:00! But anyway, back to the breakfast. Scott said the blessing, and he said, “Please bless us that we will enjoy being together today.” I teased him that God may be a god of miracles, but let’s not ask the impossible from him, but in reality, I almost hugged him because he said something that often rises to the surface in my mother’s brain. While we ate, we joked and laughed, enjoying the yummy pancakes, and generally DID enjoy being together.

Disclaimer here: Kristi was especially stressed last night (before the snow day was announced) because she had an inordinate amount (for a 6th grader) of homework that should have been due today, and she was worried about how she’d get it done. Then the kids’ computer crashed, and she was really frantic. Coming home from a difficult job up in DC, I was a bit stressed, as well, and by the end of our initial encounter, she was in tears, and I was feeling pretty sheepish. Never fear, she didn’t hesitate to come to me and talk about it, and we kissed and made up, promising not to take our stress out on one another. As for Scott, well, if you’ve met Scott, you know that that boy has too much brain in his head to let him stay out of trouble for any long stretches of time. He’s kind of the burr under my saddle much of the time….but I honestly wouldn’t trade him or Kristi for anyone or for any reason.

In recent memory, I’ve bragged about Scott’s art work, beamed with pride over his accomplishments in music, and bragged about both his and Kristi’s intelligence and their obvious thirst for knowledge. Kristi listened jealously a few weeks ago when Scott told us that they had dissected frogs in science. See, she’s only in 6th, he’s in 7th, and SHE wants to be a surgeon when she grows up. Really. Scott’s science teacher, who probably spends a lot of days just shaking her head over his, um, “humor,” was actually pleased to tell me that he had been able to name all the organs of the frog when asked. And he did a pretty good job in the dissection. I can remember a million years ago our science class dissected earth worms, and let’s just say, there’s a REASON why I work with words, not science….:D

(Scott's painting of Niagara Falls)

My visiting teacher came over the other day, and we had a lovely visit (I really love this lady. She’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known). She was telling me how much she likes our house, and I looked around my little living room/dining room area and had to agree. It’s warm and friendly and…inviting. And there is no one here who does not agree. It’s been almost two weeks, and I haven’t heard a single word of complaint or disparagement about the new place. Trust me, that’s BIG in my world. Scott’s a little slow in doing the work to put his room together, but Kristi had her little sanctuary unpacked in record time. Each has a room with a queen-sized bed, and they will both eventually have added a personal touch.

(Scott's photo of our new house, after the snow)

Right now we are in the midst of (yet another) crisis. Our Mazda sits in the driveway, undriveable because (we thought) of a blown head gasket. There is now hope that the problem is really something much less expensive. Then on the coldest morning in a long time, our van’s transmission suddenly stopped responding. We actually have to nurse the van through the various gears manually, starting in first, then slowly moving up to drive. It’s scary.

Then we wrote our landlord two checks to cover the rest of the rent for January as well as our deposit. We don’t have any cash from the other house because the landlord summarily changed the locks on the house and didn’t give us a single minute to paint, clean, and repair the house before turning it back over. That’s a story for our lawyer to handle, because, yeah, taking possession of your house and barring your tenant from his/her property (patio furniture, entertainment center, and BBQ, along with miscellaneous other things) is kind of, um, against the law. At any rate, current landlord, whom we really like, received the two checks, one dated for the day I dropped them off and the other dated for this Friday, the 28th. Darryl wrote him an e-mail telling him that we needed him to hold the second check. But when I went to check our account yesterday, I discovered we were overdrawn…in the amount of the second check, which he had deposited along with the first one. So, boo on him for not paying attention, and boo on the bank(s) for not checking the dates….and ::sigh:: on us because we are broke till payday. Again.

And yet…and yet, I can’t believe how UNstressed I feel about this. I’m looking at my husband and falling in love with him more every day. I see my “babies,” who actually look at me back and LIKE me as well as LOVE me. It feels like having gone for your entire adult life with bad brake pads. It’s so bad, makes so much noise, actually groans and even hurts to hit the brakes. In the meantime, you’re not noticing that all the other parts work fine. In fact, the car has a great finish, and the upholstery is really nice. The heater works great. But you’re so fixed on those loud, painful brakes that you don’t even notice all the good things. And then, one day, you FINALLY get those brake pads replaced, and you SEE and HEAR and FEEL all the awesome parts of your car working together. It’s magical. You might even miss the old brake pads because you were awfully careful about how you braked, but that doesn’t keep you from reveling in the joy you feel in your car that works beautifully and blesses you. Every. Single. Day.

I relish each day for the gift I receive. I’m finally ready to start living my life. So it took me 49 years to get started. What can I say? :D