Starting my Next Life Adventure.

November led us to the middle of South Dakota to work with other family members to clean up, clean out and sell my husband’s family home. His mom is now with family back east after being unable to live alone there. She had moved back to her family home from Ohio years ago where she raised four boys, to be with her aging family members who once ran the Post office and sold off land over time. She began in an apartment, moved into a trailer home, she purchased, and eventually inherited her sister’s home after she passed. My husband has wonderful stories about playing with cousins at the town park and walking the streets of this small town later in life. The town has a doctor, a nursing home, a clinic, a grocery store, a post office and a library; several churches and a motel or two on the interstate exit to help stranded or tired motorists traveling from one end of the state to the other.

South Dakota has much to offer but long stretches of interstate highway that show off prairie grasses, cattle, and farms. The speed posted is 80 mph and residents take this seriously. But in small towns the speed limit is 15 – 20 mph, so beware. One very popular oasis is advertised all along the way, Wall Drug, with free ice water and 5 cent coffee. The donuts are fresh but cost a little more. Our family is known to buy these treasures by the dozen and take them home to freeze and enjoy later, with memories of home.

Family can become interesting when tested by selling the family home and dealing with a lifetime of treasures and junk. I remember my own mother’s stories of testing when her mother’s home became the center of attention for the family and the question of who went home with family antiques. I am the proud owner of two chairs from the living room where we sat while opening Christmas presents. They match a fainting couch that my cousin inherited. I enjoy seeing the library cabinet that became china storage for my grandmother in her dining room but requires nine foot ceilings. It is now in my Aunt’s farm house in Mississippi along with the treasured dining room table and chairs with other Christmas and Thanksgiving memories.

All this to say, what was learned over time is it’s just stuff with emotion attached. My husband came home with a cuckoo clock that will take some patience getting used to now in our home. We are learning that as boomers, our children do not want all our stuff. Some of them have come to appreciate the antiques and quality of craftsmanship that is in the furniture and china but they take more effort to avoid the dishwasher and microwave than the newer choices of the young. Silver is avoided mostly because of the need for polish and ‘elbow grease’ as we one said.

South Dakota was an adventure that was delayed a month due to family need to be there for help with the job. We traveled to Tennessee for October to see the mountains and hear the stories of resilience of the people helping each other recover from the western North Carolina flooding. We are still praying for those who need shelter from the cold and funding to keep going. Family came in from New Orleans and other parts of Indiana for Thanksgiving and they are missed when they leave. I have the joy of expecting a first grandchild. Prayers continue for traveling mercies and how to serve for the greater good in retirement. Tonight I am helping with a Nativity live walk through at church and I am purchasing a lot of bird seed these days. I saw my first pileated woodpecker in all its glory on my deck railing yesterday, up close and personal. A thrill and a blessing.