After Tom left, the house again seemed empty, and although I had my work, I also had tons of things to do. Renting the house was number one, so again, Sandy (YumMe) & Dave (BED) were pressed into service. Sandy and I made up ads on the computer, and Dave posted some at the college, that he is attending, plus I peppered the town with them. I also enlisted the help of a local realtor. I thought I had a renter, the daughter of one of the realtor's colleagues, but, alas the rent was not in their price range. I interviewed numerous people, but for one reason or another, I did not get the "feeling" from them that would allow me to allow them to take good care of my home. There was also the insurmountable problem of what to do with my pets - two cats, two full grown dogs (a collie "Tiffany" and a fuzzy collie/sitter mix "Suzie"). I also had two fish tanks with Chinese Fantail Goldfish, and all of them needed to be cared for in my absence of 13 months.
Sandy readily agreed to take the fish, and I planned to rent the house fully furnished including the cats. I still did not have a renter, or a place for my beloved dogs, but I "felt" it would all work out. I removed my personal effects and many expensive items to storage in a back room of the house; cleaned, sorted and put away, still un-rented. I called the original couple, came down in the rent to both our satisfication, and Tada!! I rented the house!! I called kennels, my sister, my neighbor, my relatives. No one wanted the responsibility of the dogs (and the kennels were outrageous!!). I called Sandy and after about five minutes, she said "if it is okay with the landlord, it is okay with me!". I hung up the phone and cried with relief!
We made arrangements with her daughter Ari to take over the responsibility for a monthly fee, and I was off on pet food buying trips to get them started - three lbs. of fish food, filters, and tank supplies; four hundred lbs. of dog food; thirty five lbs. of litter. I had racks put on the car, fixed the windshield wiper motor, got a tune-up and road check. Sandy was driving to Indianapolis, Indiana; car fully loaded with things for the apartment Tom had rented for us in Virginia, where we would meet up with him, put Sandy on a flight back to Duluth, and continue on home together. As I was packing, my renters were slowly moving in. I was putting the yard furniture away and preparing the gardens for their long winter sleep.
I helped my daycare people get other providers in my absence, plus I was finishing up required classes at school, for Daycare Providers. It was utter chaos!! The fish tanks were transferred to Sandy's (and setup), and the dogs and I spent the two days before Sandy and I were to leave, with Sandy and Dave. The night before we were to leave, October 1st, we loaded the car. We used 150 feet of rope for the things on the overhead racks, as Sandy hummed the tune to the Beverly Hillbillies song. October 2nd dawned crisp and clear and at 7AM we were off. As we were about to leave, Ari opened the door to wave to us, and Tiffany, my collie, made a beeline for the car, jumping in, and sat behind the wheel. She knew what was going on and wasn't giving up her "mom" without a fight. We coaxed her out, and were on the road. I had made reservations for our first night, just out of Madison, Wisconsin, and eight hours later we pulled in and had dinner. I talked with Tom on the phone as he finally got throught to us. Sandy has brought her laptop along, so naturally she got on-line. I settled down to sleep, seeing lights flickering behind my eyelids.
Sandy was channel surfing the T.V. stations until I believe I threatened her!! "click" Silence!! We were on the road early, and the countryside was beautiful! We got to a new interstate and although I was sure we should go straight, Sandy turned right! Thank God, if she would have listened to me, we would have ended up in Memphis! (I have no sense of direction, and freely admit this with out shame).
We pulled into Crawfordsville about 1:30PM in the afternoon, planning to wait for Tom until 3:30 and then go by ourselves to the airport for Sandy's flight. At 3:20PM we heard a car horn out front. He made it! He had traveled all day and had to turn around and travel the next morning. Seeing him again was wonderful!
We all talked for a bit and then got Sandy to the airport. Her leaving was hard for us both, and as I hugged her goodbye, my eyes filling with tears, I whispered "Thank you so much, I love you my friend". As she walked down the ramp, she tried to lighten the moment by doing a little "jig". She was on her way home to Dave and her children. Tom and I were on our way to our future together.
Changes...The Move (Tom)
After leaving Dee in Superior, I had this sad feeling, as we parted ways again, but it was not like on the Fourth of July, because I knew we would be getting together very soon, as we had planned and talked about her moving down here to Virginia, sometime in October. When I was there with my lady, we discussed many issues on our lives together; detailing plans on everything to get us closer to one another. It sounded so wonderful, knowing Dee would be with me for a very long time. The time we spent together was so loving and warm; it is like we knew each other many years. I knew now what I felt for so very long; I loved Dee more and more each passing day.
Before the visit, I had been working on getting an apartment for us, and making plans to move off the army base where I had been living in a dormitory setting, not something to write home about, as I felt trapped and so alone, and away from my love, but we talked a lot on the phone, in ICQ, and any means we could get our hands on at the time. What kept me going was knowing Dee would be with me soon, and knowing I would be talking to her every day, till she came to me, to start our lives together. I had the apartment nailed down before I left to see Dee on Labor Day, and getting preaprations taking car of to move in, and get it ready for her. Dee was wrapping up things on her end getting ready to leave Wisconsin, as to getting things packed, wrap up loose ends there, making sure her pets were taken care of, and with the help of our dear friend Sandy, she was able to get a sitter for her pets, and Sandy was there to help Dee with everything and anything. With me, it seemd like I was running around a lot like Dee was at her place, to ensure the apartment was comfortable, getting my own loose ends tied up at the base and starting new in the apartment...in the end it all worked like clockwork.
We planned a date finally. Dee was driving down with Sandy and I was going to meet her in Crawfordsville on the 3rd of October. I was so excited to know I was going to see my love, as I seemd to have a little more peppier step to me, smiling a lot more, and once I got moved in on the 15th of September, all I had to do was ensure my car was ready, and all things I could get done for our "love nest" was ready for her arrival. Leading up to my departure to Indiana, all I could do to keep my feet on the ground was to keep occupied - at work, cleaning the apartment, and setting up time to talk with Dee at nite..it was usually in ICQ, and a few phone calls, as I had to hear her voice as much as possible.
Dee left on the 2nd with Sandy to Beloit, and a stop for the night. We had planned to talk that night when her and Sandy hit town, and it did not hit me that there was still a time change (where Dee was still one hour behind me), and I called her a few times when she was on the road...talk about wanting to hear your loved one!! And I seemed to be pestering the clerk at the desk a lot, as I called about every half an hour till I finally got a hold of her *s* and I knew more that our time was very near. We talked for a very long time, till I wemt into a dreamland, with Dee on my mind, and an early start on Saturday morning.
I left about 4AM Saturday morning, and I got off to a shaky start as I got lost in downtown D.C. *sigh*, so after an hour of tooling in the darkness of the area, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, as I found the interstate and was on my way.*s* The trip seemed to fly by after this little "misadventure"..I pulled into Crawfordsville about 3:30PM that afternoon, and I honked the horn, and my baby ran to my arms, where we kissed and hugged, as time seemed to stand still, and no one else was around but us. We chatted with Sandy for a bit, and headed to the airport about a half hour later. We sat with her and chatted till she left. I could see tears in Dee's eyes, as these friends for 20 years were parting their ways for the next year. I had a tear myself, watching Sandy leave to head back home, Dee and I hugged, and walked to the car to start our lives together..love will show us the way, still, as it has done so far for us *kiss*
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