Can We Not and Say We Did?

My, but what we have!

Only now realized as it towers higher

Voluminous boxes swallowing more and more

Innocently stacking up to show more than thought

Not sure just where it all could have possibly come from

Going to have to move all of that now even as it looks impossible

 

(Yes, my little sister, her husband, his sister and our older sister are moving again as the lease on their current shared apartment is up and none of them wish to renew.

I also made each line longer than the previous on purpose after realizing that it was happening on the third line.)

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Tableau – Random Reminiscence

There was much to do throughout the land; fences needed building, fixing, and maintenance work. Garden plots needed to be chosen, mapped out, dug up, mulched, planted, weeded, watered, and generally all around cared for. Fields for the animals needed to be picked out after careful study and prepped for the animals that would use them as well. Existing structures needed to be inspected and repaired or torn down and rebuilt.

In short, there was an awful lot of work just waiting to be done.

And that wasn’t even taking into account the boxes that were stacked all the way to the ceiling and half a house deep in the front room.

“And I’d just finished getting the last house all the way organized.” A young woman groaned as she looked at the frightening tableau before her.

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This ramble was brought to you by memories of my very first day at the new farm. It was a horrible moment that second before the next truckload of our stuff arrived and I had to get back to work.

She never removed it

It was when the leaves on the bushes outside began to change color that she knew.

“Mother, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, my darling.”

The smile felt more real than fake and it took everything Mary had not to let the tears in the back of her throat reach her eyes. She’d always been very good at lying and anyone who was as good at it as she was knew that the art in lying is in having just enough of the truth in it to make it real.

“Are we going to have to finish our homework?” her youngest asks, eager for a reason to not finish the packet sent home for the fall break.

“We’ll see, Matt.” She shares a grin with her eldest at the boy’s groan. What she doesn’t say and what her eldest likely already knows is that they will likely never return to this house that had almost become their home.

Matt didn’t remember living anywhere but here, he’d been so young when her husband had left and only a little older when his father had died. She still wore her wedding ring even though it was on the wrong hand. It was a plain enough band that many wouldn’t know that it had ever been a wedding ring in the first place. Her husband’s name was only clear on the ring once the band had been removed.

Mary never removed it.

I Wish That I Could See You Once Again

I waited all day for the truck to arrive. To be truthful, I’d been waiting for that truck to get here since it had first left the duplex on Friday morning. It was Thursday, almost a full week since I’d seen something that had been a permanent fixture in my family and my life since before any of my siblings were even born.

Since before my parents had even been married for six months to be honest. It was their first baby, something they bought before they even had a bed to sleep on at night.

“I told your father that I would sleep on the floor as long as necessary in order to get that piano,” she said as I glanced once more out the window in anticipation.

“They’re here!”

With silence, we watch as, piece by bulky piece, the piano is brought in and then assembled. Very politely, the movers turn it just a little, this way and that for my mother once it’s fully together.

“That’s it! That’s perfect.” She says with a smile.

I thank them as well and make sure to pay them before watching as they drive off once more, this time without a member of my family with them.

I turn back to the piano and don’t comment as I see Mom hugging it. I’d already done that while they were putting their equipment away anyway.

image: Iris and the piano, from martha0stout’s phone

Even Iris missed her favorite perch.

Don’t worry about the broken music stand. That happened decades ago when my parents were still married and before their many children. That’s right, that wasn’t us…for once.

(This was supposed to be post right after the piano arrived, but I forgot. It’s the second part to So Long Old Friend. The two titles are from a song from the Garfield cartoon movies.)

(I will include the link to the first post when I am able.)

So Long, Old Friend

While I watched the truck drive away for the first time it became real to me.

It wasn’t something we were planning for.

It wasn’t something we were preparing for.

It was something that we were actually doing.

We were moving and no one and nothing would ever convince me otherwise.

With the piano gone from the house, it was finally official.

We were moving!

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This was meant to be posted right before we moved, but I forgot to do so. It has another part, which is the reason I’m posting it late rather than never. I Wish That I Could See You Once Again is the second part. (I will include the link when I am able for the second link, as has become my practice lately.)

Farewell Sunset – Silent Sunday

image: the last sunset I saw at the duplex, from martha0stout’s phone

Adrenaline Crash

Caught up in the thrill of the moment

Only after does the crash strike

Lost in the shivers that drench my body

Darkness driven back by warmth wrapped around me.

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The adrenaline crash after the first day of moving was harsh. I hadn’t been on my feet that long without breaks in years, but I was blessed to keep moving. My sister and her husband wrapped me up tight once they realized it was cold brought by the lack of adrenaline in my body instead of a seizure.

The Love of a Family

Where do I go to find companionship?

Am I left drifting and alone?

Reaching out has always burned me in the past;

Don’t really know what to do…

 

For this moment, we are here

And here we shall stay.

My sister, my brother

I know it has been hard;

Love and acceptance

You will find aplenty.

 

This poem is dedicated to the River Bend Young Single Adult Ward in Utah and how I felt while I was there. The only sad thing about moving for me is the fact that I can’t take all of these wonderful people with me.

Packing Instead of Unwrapping – Six Word Saturday

Birthday present, empty boxes, fill up!

click to find original

 

 

Moving Stress – Six Word Saturday

Cat fights, they feel the pressure.

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For Six Word Saturday.