Moving on Down

I look around my office and see the pile of disarray that has been 12 years in the making. Just the thought of having to go through all this crap fills me with dread. Not only is it going to take a lot of time to cipher the trash from the treasures, I have to decide which treasures will fit into our smaller domicile and what to do with the jewels that don't.

Keepsakes and mementos are the hardest things to part with, some of which I've been dragging around a lifetime. 30 years ago, when we moved to the Keys, I rented a storage unit up in Cocoa where we came from. It cost a whopping $30 a month for a garage size space. It contained all of our furniture from the double wide trailer that we had just sold. Record albums and a plethora of lawn maintenance equipment, that we paid to store for 10 years. The lady that owned the storage unit never raised our rent because she said we were the most consistent/reliable renters she had. My money order showed up every month without having to be reminded.

Long story short, within the first two years we had brought down anything that we could use. When we finally went up to close out that storage shed, all of that junk that we thought was important to keep at the time, ended up going in the dumpster. My entire record collection had been attacked by some kind of vinyl eating mold. It wasn't a climate controlled space. It was a lesson in the futility of hanging on to stuff. I was amazed at the amount of actual garbage that we paid to store. Especially paperwork. All that "important stuff" I was told that I needed to hang onto "just in case." Turned out it never came to cases and it all got thrown away.

Like most things in my life, our move down here was a spur of the moment, mad dash... I just couldn't make a living up in Cocoa, I was driving to work in Orlando every day which ate into our bottom line. The gigs up there didn't pay much and were a lot further spread out than they are down here in the Keys. Our place sold three days after it was listed. The new owners were anxious to move in and we were anxious to start our new life in the Keys to say the least.

 We started out in a tent, moved on into a 28 foot travel trailer with no slide out, then we moved into a 35 foot travel trailer with slides, then we moved into a spacious double wide on a large lot, then a single wide with a ton of storage on an even larger lot, and finally into the house we've been in for the past 12 years. Every space was a little roomier than the last until this move. Now we have to downsize. A lot.

 I'm not going to have the room for my keepsake T-shirts. I guess I'm going to have to start wearing them to justify keeping them. The wife went through a large pile of clothes in her room and separated them into smaller piles. The travel trailer only holds 1500 pounds worth of extra shit and clothes are heavy. Makes the argument for living in a nudist commune...

 That's all right, it is just crap anyway in the long run. I'll be happy if I can just fit the shit I actually use every day. The saddest thing is, I don't think our beloved above ground pool is going to survive another move. I am amazed that it has lasted as long as it has. It is 15 years old. It has been set up in this backyard since 2018. It did have a few years off until Irma knocked down a tree in 2017. Thanks to Bill and Koty from the Keysbillies for cutting the tree up for us. That's a whole nother story.

 The pool is actually critical for my health maintenance routine. I can do stretches and cardio exercises that would otherwise aggravate the arthritis in my knees and ankles under my full body weight. That and I just love to float around naked in the pool. Sunshine makes me happy.

Do I publish this story now with pictures of the destroyed gazebo that the tree trimmers said, "No problem, we can work around it?" They failed to mention they were going to drop the limbs all over it and put holes and tears in the roof and the screen.

They dropped a large limb and cracked the pvc waterline running out to the dock. When they glued it back together, the spigot was facing into the ground. They dropped a big branch and poked holes in our carport canopy out front. They also left a big limb in the tree that almost hit me when a gust of wind dislodged it from up in the canopy. Not to sound too dramatic but it was big enough that it could've killed me. Startled the shit out of me anyway. They probably overcharged our landlord for a mediocre trim job.

If I could recall the name of them I would advise you not to use them. She had already gone back to Oregon and wasn't here for the demolition. With all she has on her plate, I didn't have the heart to tell her about it, they did get the limbs off of the incoming power lines which was her biggest concern.

I could wait a few days until we find out if we qualified for our "new to us" travel trailer and post pictures of that. Maybe post a picture of it on our new lot? That could be a whole story on its own. Needless to say, it could be a while before I actually post anything again during this move.

 Yeah, I'm going for the zero down, no payments until January, with special interest financing that I don't really qualify for. That is why I'm going on the last day of the month to the dealership when they are as desperate as I am. It's amazing what they can make happen when they are properly motivated by end of the month sales quotas and the arrival of next year's models.

Wish us luck on our transition from stationary, concrete house living to life in a "glued together" box on wheels. At least when we evacuate for hurricanes, no matter where we go, we'll still be at home. ☮️ ❤️ 😊 🎶 🖖 ☀️

This is my other happy place...