‘Tis but a day we sojourn here below*

by chuckofish

Since my poor DP (and birthday girl of yesterday!) is under the weather, I am filling in today. I hope she feels better soon!

It’s funny how things work out: as my niece is moving into a house, we are moving out of one. A nice couple saw our cottage and contacted us through a friend to ask us about buying it. After much soul-searching, not to mention phone calls with children, we decided to sell. It is definitely time to let go, for despite our recent renovations, we haven’t spent a night there in years. Nevertheless, we did not anticipate how much hard work the move would entail, nor how completely it would disrupt our lives. We have been moving stuff home for several weeks now, and it seems that there is no end in sight. Boxes and tubs linger in our mudroom while we figure out what to do with them,

and the family room is piled high with games, puzzles and boxes of books.

It’s mayhem but we are rediscovering loads of wonderful things including two tubs full of photos of my adorable young lads. Here are a couple pictures that I copied with my phone, scanning being unavailable at home.

The sad fact is that our poor house cannot absorb the camp contents and the UHaul storage unit is nearing capacity. Fortunately, it is rummage sale time at church, and all three of our sons are coming home to help sort out what to toss and what to keep. Eventually, we will have to rent a truck to make a dump run, but where we will put the rest remains an unsolved mystery.

It has been difficult to let that cottage go. We passed many, many happy days there, though we realize that, as Willa Cather wrote in O Pioneers, “The land belongs to the future; that’s the way it seems to me. How many of the names on the county clerk’s plat will be there in fifty years? I might as well try to will the sunset over there to my brother’s children. We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it–for a little while.” It’s time for us to pass that house and land on to new owners.

Have a great weekend! Good luck moving, Mary!!

*Omar Khayyam