I’m back! A restoration of sorts…
The last time I blogged, life was busy but fairly calm. I was able to juggle everything- until we decided to sell our house.
In the process of selling our house we discovered foundation problems. Thankfully (and perhaps because we pay our tithing or some other blessing) the whole thing was still under warranty. So while we had the inconvenience of being out of our home and in a hotel, we also had the benefit of not paying for it ($2,000 in food costs. $4,000 in hotel bills).
But the inconvenience was difficult. Life did not stop for our luxurious stay at La Quinta (that’s Spanish for ‘next to Denny’s’). In the middle of it all we sold our house, went under contract for a new house, and found out we are expecting baby #2 (nothing like taking a pregnancy test in the stall of Panera Bread. But that’s a story for another post).
All in all we spent 28 days in a hotel, 7 days on a mattress in an empty house, and 12 days living with family (my second cousin once removed) in a town 20 minutes away from where we work and my daughter goes to school.
That’s 47 Days in transit.
While I am not going to pretend that I suffered near what the pioneers went through, I do feel like I have a better understanding and insight on what it was like moving from Kirtland to Missouri, and then finally Nauvoo. All is a bit tongue in cheek.
1. When other people pack for you they don’t do a very good job. Sure the early Saints had mobs that threw their stuff out of their houses. We had “professional movers” that basically did the same thing.
2. Every time you move, you lose stuff. I still cannot find my favorite boots, that gel mat that goes in front of the sink, and my scentsy stuff! I am sure the pioneers had greater losses along their way- still it’s frustrating to start over without the stuff that made you feel at home.
3. Transitory living with kids is hard. Granted, we only have one kid. Still kids need schedules and consistency. My daughter would cry every night as we pulled up to the LQ. I would have to drag her into our room. In the morning when I’d open the door to our room to leave for the day she would run out and say, “Free! Free! Free!”
4. Transitory living while pregnant is hard. Sometimes all that sounded good to me was some mashed potatoes- no gravy or anything. But there’s no kitchen to make it. So I’d get mashed potatoes from KFC. And the high sodium in them would make me gag.
5. “You don’t have to clean! How wonderful!” So often people would tell this to me. It was not wonderful. The hotel staff quit cleaning after the first week. We’d complain and then they’d half-way clean every other day. Until this, I never really thought about how the pioneers didn’t have to clean in their travels. But I missed it. I’m sure the pioneers missed it. You’d clean anything just to be home again. So while people may dog the folks in our faith for their OCD home design/ homemaking- I think the pioneer heritage would be grateful or proud to see what we do.
Now we are settled and it feels like heaven. Zion. The Promised Land. Whatever you want to call it. I don’t think I’ll move again until I’m an old lady being put in a home-hopefully.
Now that we are settled I’ve repented and returned to this blog in full fellowship despite my summer of inactivity.
Now that I’ve been through my gypsy summer or my pioneer summer- albeit ‘first world problems’ compared to what the pioneers went through- I appreciate their haphazard situation a little bit more.