Ben and Sam came round this morning to help out with a lot of the smaller items. They switched out all the downstairs wall sockets and helped install the blinds plus a number of other tasks. We have a manageable list for tomorrow – our last day here in NJ.
At the end of the day we all went out for a farewell dinner. Chatting about the usual stuff, college, a little politics, what they’re thinking of doing. Seems so normal but the hanging spectre over all of us was that this really is the end of a phase of our lives. It’s very hard to write how I feel as right now it’s a bit dark. Questions about whether ending our family life worth the pursuit of our dreams countered with the realism things will move on anyway. Is it right to cling to the past while less and less is available to hang onto?
I don’t think I’ve ever loved my family more than I do now.
Ben and Sam will both grow from this experience as will Helen and I. We haven’t come this far without the realization that life, to remain vital, must move on. This involves painful moments. This is one of them.
Looking forward. Today we hired a car from Newark airport which we’ll drop off at FJK on Tuesday morning when we fly down to Fort Lauderdale. It will also help when we sell our Dodge Caravan tomorrow which has served us well the last eight and a half years. I have a couple of local dealers lined up who will take it off our hands for a small sum of cash. Ads on Craigslist only turned up scammers over the weekend.
Helen has repacked all our travel gear. Tomorrow it will come down to getting the last few things done that we can and then compiling lists of things that we can’t do for the handymen to do in our absence – hopefully a short list.
Our property agent has been a dream and a great comfort to us. She has been very supportive and reassuring and has already made sevaral trips to show the property. We’re close to getting our first set of tenants signed up which is very good news.
Once we get to Fort Lauderdale we have a number of things to do. We need to get Florida driving licenses as this will become our official state of residence. We need to pick up some generator spares and we need to pick up our new headsail which is now ready. Thursday we fly to the BVIs and will probably get onto the boat around 10pm. While we are on a tight budget we’ve decided we can go to the bar for painkillers that evening. Friday will be groceries and boat checkout. If all checks out we could be sailing to St Martin next weekend where we then have to get all our gear onto the boat. Maybe we’ll then get a chance to take a day or two to do nothing. Who knows.