Shredding paper: The epitome of purging.

Bags, bins and boxes full. Who knew we had so much sensitive paper to get rid of? Well, I guess we did, but were avoiding doing anything about it. It's the last of the throwing out process. To shred or not to shred? Its a scary question. What if we need it? Well, we haven't ever needed any of it before, so we're taking the risk.  Rick is going to a community shredding event to get rid of much of it this morning.

File drawers are our biggest space issue in the new RV. We just don't have any, although we planned on it. The manufacturer told us at one point that we could, but when it came right down to the final plans, they said it wasn't possible with the design we came up with. So, we got over it and now have to bring those portable file drawers, bankers boxes, and other less than handy methods of dealing with the last of the paper.

Other than this paper problem, the hardest thing right now is how much I'm thinking about all at once: health insurance, bank account changes, address changes, what to bring and what to leave, house repairs, truck prep, technology choices, legal issues, parties, getting stuff to my son - not to mention the normal end-of-semester pressures at work. I have to keep reminding myself to stop, to trust that it will all get done. We're working on a couple of deadlines - first the estate sale and then the house closing, which also happens to be my last day at work.  They all seem to be coming fast and furious. My self-care skills are maxing out.

It's beautiful

We spent a few hours today just sitting in the RV, parked at the dealer, taking it all in, looking in all the drawers and cabinets, sitting on all the chairs and the sofa, opening and closing windows, raising and lowering the shades. It's just perfect. Better than I imagined.

Parties Parties Parties

First there's a Retirement Party at work on May 4. Then I'm throwing a Birthday Party (with cupcakes!) at my office on May 10, (4-7 pm) which will double as a fundraiser for the new "Lenore Hervey Artistic Inquiry Award" (an award for Columbia College Chicago dance/movement therapy students who are doing artistic inquiry for their thesis). All are welcome and donations are tax deductible.  I will also be giving away books, art work and file cabinets worth of articles. No purchases necessary. So come and bring your check book!

Then, the final Bon Voyage/Trailer Warming Party on June 11, 2-8 pm, at the North West Chicago KOA in Union, IL. It is located off Route 90, next to Wild West Town. We will be staying at that KOA probably from about May 24 to June 12, getting our trailer legs and figuring out how everything works. So if you can't make it on June 11, why not come out for an overnight of camping at the KOA during that time.

Our New Home Has Arrived

It's now at the RV dealer, in Cortland IL. Rick is going to today to pay for it and see it for the first time. I hope to see it this weekend. I'm nervous and excited about seeing what it's really like, if it's really what we imagined (and ordered!). Rick is going to take pictures, and we'll post them here tomorrow.  He has to drop off the truck with the dealer to put on the hitch and install airbags under the back end. We already had the bed lined - sprayed with a product called Linex that protects the bed, and had a roll top cover for the back installed too. Now we're looking at various toolboxes for the bed.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I'm still trying to find some health insurance to replace the policy that's been covering us through my work. I may have found something out of South Dakota - a company called Medica that uses the United Healthcare network nationally. Many companies want you to have a permanent residence somewhere, and want you to use their local network, which doesn't work for us. Now I just have to wait and see if I'm accepted. I hate the whole insurance company racket. And that's about the closest I'm going to get to a rant on this blog.

Why dance?

Dancing is a perfect metaphor for life, for love, and for this adventure.  Of course I'm not the only one who thinks so. Anne Murray sings the song that I lifted this blog's opening quote from: "Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?" I sang that one to my husband right after our wedding ceremony, and I think of it every day. I want to dance for the rest of my life, and this adventure is part of that dance. I am blessed to have a dance partner to go through this part of my life with, who has an adventurous spirit and a courageous heart.

We met at a contra dance in Massachusetts (see the link on the right), and we still love to dance, but it has been hard to find good contra dancing in Chicago. Sometimes we travel to a contra dance event like in Madison WI, and even Hawaii (on our honeymoon). On this cross country adventure we hope to find contra dances with great music and great people. If you know of one, let us know here!

Everything Must Go!

We've scheduled an estate sale for Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Though my son Mark may come out before then to load up his car with his favorite picks of the stuff, and we will be taking what we need in the trailer, everything else will be for sale. We are not going to keep a storage unit because we don't want to be tied down to any particular location, or pay the monthly fee.  Hope you locals will consider coming.

We're looking at Saturday June 11 for the "trailer warming"party.  Invitations will be going out as soon as we finalize the arrangements with the KOA. They don't actually open until April, but when they do we'll make a reservation for the first couple of weeks of June, and talk with them about their policies regarding guests, cars and pets. Most places are fine as long as pets are on leashes. It'll probably be a picnic sort of thing from noon to 8ish, so there will be plenty of flexibility around when to come out.  Or folks could bring their tents and get a campsite, and we could have a big slumber party!

Joy Riding

Went to visit our truck today, which is still sitting on the dealer's back lot. We don't really have room in our driveway to keep it at home while we still have our other cars. So we go visit it. Today we spent a long time just sitting in it, figuring out how all the systems work. Then we took it out for its first highway ride! Joy riding...It was a little hard not to think of the price of diesel, and not to let it take the joy out of our ride, but we managed to have a really fun and free afternoon away from the house. It was a beautiful early Spring day.

There is a lot going on at home, and we are feeling just a little stressed at times. Rick is working so hard on the paperwork to establish our residency and mailing address in South Dakota, register the truck, and take care of the things that came up in the house inspection. The inspection results were reasonable, though a little surprising, and the things we need to do are not really major, just a pain in the $%#*!!  It's a lot to juggle while also arranging the estate sale, and doing the taxes on top of that! But he's handling it all. Amazing. I'm so grateful for his competence and steady effort at these things while I go off to work.