Movin’ On

I will be back in Missouri in two weeks.  That sounds so odd today.  We have been at our home in Arizona since the end of December.  When we first got here I tried to find a rhythm to my life.  The setting was different, and I wasn’t sure what I would be doing with my days.

My days quickly got filled. Mostly Dennis and I would go to the mountain behind our home and hike approximately 4 miles, sometimes more.  Now the hiking is getting tough because the temperatures have gone to an uncomfortable HOT.  We have to go out earlier in the morning which is such a change for me.  I don’t like getting out and about that early in the day. 

Arizona weather is to my liking. Most days are sunny, and it is hot.  I am solar, so having the sun shining just brings warmth to my soul.

Now May is approaching, and our plan is to have our car loaded on and on the road for Missouri on May 9.  We will be back next winter.  I don’t want to leave.  I love it here, and I don’t feel like I have done all I want to do here.

The reality is that we have a house in Missouri.  It has not yet sold.  I know what faces me when I arrive.  First is cleaning all the decks and screened in porch.  Spring has come to the Midwest, and the pollen will be thick on all the surfaces.  I will have to hose and wash down the decks and porch.  

Then comes the flowers. I have been spoiled in Arizona.  When they landscape in Arizona, they put in a dripper system, that drips water on the each plant and tree, and I don’t have to go outside and water anything.  Unfortunately, that is not the case in Missouri.  I need to purchase the summer plants, and clean out the flower pots all over the pool deck and replant flowers.  In the meantime, Dennis will be cutting grass, or maybe baling hay if there has been a lot of growth.  That’s a joke—he won’t be baling hay.  We will re-mulch all the plant areas, and make everything look new and summer-happy!

I know I will find my rhythm once I arrive.  I will fall back into the pattern established living there the last five years.  As I will enjoy being back, I will have part of my heart at this home in Arizona.

There is something special about the Arizona home.  Maybe it is because Dennis and I bought it together.  We decorated it together.  This home is truly the house we both selected and made ours.  It is so comfortable.  It is small enough to be easy to maintain, and large enough to have loved ones visit.  It is peaceful in our little corner of the desert.

I don’t know what this year will bring.  Will our Missouri home go to a new family who want to make new memories there?  Where will we decide to live when we sell the home?  So many things are up in the air.  Maybe that is why I like staying in Arizona.  Everything here is settled.  This is my corner of the world.  Missouri is a big question mark.  Will we be home owners there for a while, short time or long time?  When we will be able to move on?

There is much I do love about Missouri.  You cannot beat the rolling hills of green trees.  The state is beautiful.  One half of my children live in Missouri, and the majority of my grandchildren are there.  This is what makes me happy about returning.  I can attend school plays and concerts and enjoy the presence of the grandkids.  I have many friends in Missouri, and hopefully, I can spend my summer reconnecting with them.  I look forward to the summer pool parties with family and friends.

I am leaving my car in Arizona.  It will make it easy if during the summer or the autumn, we want to drop in our desert home, we can take a quick flight out, and have transportation awaiting us.

I now have a foot in two states.  We are committed to Missouri as long as Dennis’ mom is with us.  She turned 100 last November, and she is quite healthy for her age.  I do know that we will try to find really good hiking areas when we get back.  We are so used to really working it on these long hikes, that we don’t want to lose that momentum that we have made.

As we get ready to button up this house for a bit, I am sure we will have some new adventures waiting for us back at our other place.  So, I have less than two weeks here, and I plan to make the most of it.  We will be hiking a lot, and we will be meeting up with friends before we go, and then I will put my traveling shoes on for the next adventure going back the the Show Me State.