Back in Seattle and down to a bed, some yard chairs, a desk that will be demolished and two stands. Everything else is gone. It is the last odds and ends that need to be packed. The things that somehow didn’t make it into a box but I want to keep like my Mom’s last hairbrush with her hair still in it, her keys and other little things. I anticipate that since they will all go in checked luggage, it will certainly be an odd x-ray. Of course, there is also the ever important pet suitcase, filled with familiar foods, leashes and poop bags. That’s not the luggage I want to have be delayed!

Tomorrow is the last full day here. When we leave on Wednesday, it will be one year to the day that we moved into the big house. I remember that day very well. I was simultaneously coordinating a move out of the rental house and busting Mom out of skilled care. Luckily, Move Goddess was on hand to keep the movers going and Lynn arrived to make the living room habitable so we had a place for Mom to be comfortable. The ramp hadn’t been installed yet so we hadn’t taken that into account. But with Mom’s determination and Lynn and I on either side, she made it up the stairs. And the first morning she woke up here, it was Halloween and she said to me “I am so happy to be waking up here in this beautiful house.” And I am so grateful that she did.

This time of year is marked with so many reminders of where we were last year. So, in a way, it is good that I have been busy with a relocation otherwise I might end up completely non-functional. Of course, nothing makes me happier than a project.

The piano that belonged to my Oma and Opa and came over in the container from the Netherlands in 2011 went to a new home today. It went to the Pacific Islander church across the street. Their pastor told me that they had been looking for one, not a keyboard. And he said that every time they would see it in their sanctuary, they would think of my mom and me. I am glad that it will be going to a place where it will be used to create beauty and bring joy to people. And it feels good to know that even if I don’t return here, part of my family’s history remains on this block.

I am exhausted and tomorrow is a full day of silly tasks like getting the USDA signoff on the health certificates for the pets so they can leave. For those curious types, my sleep schedule is even more disturbed and when I wake up, I want dinner. I love breakfast for dinner but dinner for breakfast is something new – I blame it on the time zone cha cha. Good night!