Reflections From a Country Girl

Remember the 1970/1980 sitcom – Movin on Up –  with the infamous Jeffersons? I was humming this song a lot the last month.

I bet you are humming it now.

You see, these past few weeks I have been helping a friend pack her house.    This was no simple task as she has lived there for over 20 years.  She moved here with her husband so they could be close to the boys in the retirement years.  He died of cancer in 1999.  

She is now 79 and in fairly good health, volunteers regularly at a local hospital, and still enjoys time with her boys and friends.  She takes good care of herself and, some days, even wears me out. 

Her house has been on the market for almost two years.  It was getting to be more than she could handle as she gracefully aged.  She debated about taking it off the market but got an unexpected call from the realtor several weeks ago that a couple from West Virginia wanted to buy it.  They just needed assurances that she could move out before the end of the month.

She quickly bought the new patio home she admired from afar for so long.  It, too, was still on the market. 

As she began packing, she took a close look at the things she kept all these years and decided to give some to a charity group I support in Columbia.  I made several trips there with a car full of items that were still in good condition and could be used by others.  

I take what will likely be my last load this morning.

I LOVE to move so it was exciting to me when she took me up on my offer to help her pack.  I got to know her even better because she shared stories with me about memories that were triggered as we boxed things up. I did not know her husband well but his life came alive with those stories.  

Her new home is beautiful and it is amazing how everything fit into the new place.  

She brought her cat to his new home yesterday.  He had been staying at the local veterinarian’s place while the movers came. They are going to love their new digs.  Many of the neighbors have already come by and greeted her.

All the hard work paid off with a fresh start for her and lots of great stories shared between us.

My wish for you today is that you help a friend move when you have the opportunity.  You are likely to hear some interesting stories as you give that person a hand. 

~ Joellen 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:14:am and is filed under Friendship, Life & Events, Living Life to the Fullest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.