I’ve had a lovely three weeks with my husband and his sister here in Iowa. That makes me smile, even though getting on the plane to head back to Michigan does not. Well, that’s not entirely true. I am looking forward to getting back and seeing my daughter and grandson and my parents. I am even looking forward to getting started with the new semester and meeting my new students. So even though it will be hard to leave David behind, I can smile about all the great memories from our time together.
On a related note, the second thing that makes me smile is that I got to play a part in helping the sorting and de-cluttering process here at his sister’s house. Yesterday was the day Salvation Army came to pick up the first load of stuff that she’s been wanting to get rid of. With all the furniture from the basement and the bags of clothes, and the stuffed animals, and boxes of video tapes, they pretty much filled the van. Whether or not she ultimately moves is immaterial; the place is now beginning to become more her own. After Salvation Army left, Dave and I wrestled the sofa from downstairs up to the living room. With the bulky furniture out, and the streamlined versions in, we got to surprise her when she came home from work. Well, she knew that Salvation Army was coming, and she had told us what she wanted to go and about wanting the sofa brought up, but while we were the ones making it happen step-by-step, she was able to come home and just see the results. I couldn’t wait! And the smile on her face was worth all the little aches and pains we felt this morning.
The third smile is that because of #2 above, we have shaved some time off of how long Dave will need to stay in Iowa. Dave will still need to have Salvation Army back one more time (I know it’s hard to believe with everything that went yesterday), but he aims to get that done next week. But with any luck, he’ll be home by mid-February or even sooner! And that’s definitely something to smile about!
This post is part of JusJoJan and Three Things Thursday.
Container Chronicles 
What a relief it must have been for her, getting all that stuff out of the way. I’ve no doubt it’s the beginning of some wonderful new stuff about to come to her 🙂 Good Feng Shui! 🙂
I wish you safe travels.
Their mother had so much stuff, it was claustrophobic. If I hadn’t seen some of those things, I wouldn’t have believed it. Thanks for the good wishes. At the Moline, IL airport as we speak. 🙂
Ah, the gift of not having to do it yourself! A lovely one, for sure.
Well, since getting some of this stuff done was the reason for our separation, it was time to move it along. She was quite happy about it. And definitely quite appreciative. 🙂
You guys are so nice to help in this way. I hope mid-February comes quickly.
Don’t let the cat out of the bag; we have our reputation to maintain. 😉 February will be fine now. With all we got done, he had to stop pushing the time out and realize that it’s time to come home. 😀
I hope February co.es quickly for both of you. Beautiful post 🙂
Thanks! There is still lots that needs to be done between now and then, so I’ll take it at the pace it comes. 😉
Oh, the feeling of getting rid of clutter (and doing something for someone else) is a lovely one! 🙂 Especially if it leads to being with your husband sooner!
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful list. 😀
Yeah, there was no downside to this one! Just lots of good things. And then today, we got good news about our future. But that’s in the post I’m trying to write right now. haha
Here’s to being together! 😀
I’ll drink to that, but it will have to be coffee. 😉
Coffee’s the best! 😀
You’ll get no argument from me! 😉
I’ll bet it was wonderful, spending that time together this way.Connection and communion, with your personal good and the higher good benefiting…
On Christmas, Jim and I took advantage of the unseasonable heat to make a bonfire. We burned a lot of accumulated and eyesore scrap wood from our yard, and also cleaned up our elderly and infirm neighbors’ front yard, which had several piles of trimmed brush,grass clippings, and dead tree limbs.
We had a lovely time, for several hours, both with the kids and after they went off to do other things. We tended the fire, our marriage, and helped someone else out in the process.
I hope you keep that warm glow until you’re together once again! =D
Sounds like a lovely way to spend Christmas. Dave and I have other things moving ahead too. I’ll be posting about it in a bit. But those last few days working together to help his sister really got things moving and inspiring him to move forward to get home sooner! 🙂