HOME SWEET HOME

I am sitting at my computer in one of our spare bedrooms in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When I look out the window, I can see the Jemez Mountains to the west.

After all this time of preparation and planning and waiting, WE ARE FINALLY HERE!

Parts of the move went smoothly, parts did not. Parts of it were the week from hell. We didn't kill each other but we came close.(LOL)

Getting finished with the repairs, remodeling, and cleaning at our house in Kansas in preparation for putting it on the market was not fun. It was hard work and very exhausting and stressful. But it got finished, and the house was officially put on the market on May 16. It looked good.

On that same day, Friday, May 16, we pulled out of our driveway for the last time ... loaded down with a U-Haul trailer packed with some of our belongings, and with our dogs in the back seat of the truck, unaware of the long journey we were all undertaking.

The move itself went very well. The teams of packers and movers from United Van Lines were just great ... efficient, quick and friendly. The packers finished their work on Monday May 12, and the movers came on Weds. May 14 and got the truck loaded.

During that packing/loading week, I had time to spend a few lunches with Kansas friends saying more goodbyes. It was not nearly as hard as I expected. My focus now was on the move, and I was ready to go. Saying goodbye to the house where we lived for 28 years was a little sad, but not heart-breaking.

The first night, we got to Wichita, Kansas, and spent the night. The next day we drove through the rest of Kansas and crossed over the border into New Mexico at Clayton at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The feeling was a little overwhelming ... after all these years of dreaming, the dream was a reality ~ we were New Mexico residents! We were going home!

We got to our house here in Eldorado at Santa Fe about 6:30 p.m. HOME.

It is hard to describe how it felt. Mostly it seemed like we were on one of our usual visits of several days and would be going back "home" to Kansas in several days.

The movers arrived on Monday morning, May 19, to deliver all of our household and personal belongings. They filled the house with furniture, washer, dryer, boxes, boxes, boxes, and still more boxes. The whole rest of that first week was spent unpacking, getting things settled and put in place, running errands into town for groceries, necessary stuff at Home Depot, Lowe's or Walmart. We were still tired, but now it was a nice we're-home-and-we're-making-a-new-life-tired.

Brian and Katy arrived on Friday of this past weekend, delivering my car from Kansas. We spent such a nice weekend with them. We ate at several New Mexican restaurants, did a little shopping, drove up to Taos to show them some of the spectacular scenery in this part of the state. We had several cookouts at the house. It was fun ... and a break from the unpacking for a few days. We took them to the Albuquerque Sunport on Monday for their flight back to Missouri.

Life is falling into a comfortable wonderful routine. Morning coffee on the front portal, looking at the mountains and watching the birds in our courtyard. Watching Starman hunt for lizards. Making runs into town for errands. A visit to my new endocrinologist for the first time. Enjoying the great weather here. Puttering around in the flower gardens which need a lot of work. Watching the sunsets and the stars at night. Getting back online and getting caught up on the two websites where I am moderator, answering emails, and finally getting to write this blog entry.

At I sit here typing, we are under a tornado watch ~~ didn't I leave the tornadoes behind in Kansas? I can see the storm moving from south to north across the Jemez Mountains. Quite a show.

Each day seems more and more like we are *home* here. Most mornings when we get up we look at each other and say something like "Just another typical day in Paradise" and smile.

HOME. Such a lovely lovely word.