St. Louis Update

Well, today was tough! 

I picked up Aunt Marie and took her to the new place.We got there around 10 a.m. She was fine for awhile as I was unpacking. She just sat as she really can’t help. Janet came about 12:00 with lunch and then stayed to help. While we were in the middle of lunch, the movers arrived to finish unloading. 

What I discovered was that Uncle Tony—for all his packing and work (at 83 years old, I might add)—did not get rid of a single thing!!! As a result—think about this—everything in their 4500 sq ft house (which of course was crammed full) was brought in to 1750 sq ft—all boxed. It was a nightmare! You could barely move for all the boxes and they were stacked on top of each other too. God Bless Janet! She stayed with me all afternoon. We made so much headway and got all the kitchen and living room boxes unpacked (although we only got one dining room box done). I’ve never seen so many glasses (and discovered two more big dish boxes marked “glasses", that I’ll need to tackle tomorrow). Uncle Tony let us get rid of a lot of stuff, but he plans to have a garage sale this weekend at the old house. Soooo, that means we had to wrap it all up again so he can haul all that stuff back to the old house!!! There were 2 chairs (1 upholstered and 1 recliner)  that were brought to the new house that there is no room for. I’m pretty sure there are two more that need to go too. They all have to go back to the old house for the sale. There are several side tables and about 6 lamps that have to go back!! Unbelievable! So much more work. Honestly, I’m going to suggest that he just call Good Will and forget about it. I doubt he’ll make enough money to make the extra work worthwhile anyway! Nobody wants our stuff!

I got the sheets washed and the bed made up so it’s all fresh for tonight. There are so many boxes in the bedroom, but still, I wanted the bed to be ready—at least! Uncle Tony worked in the bathroom. I didn’t even look in there. The senior community that they’ve moved to offers unpacking help, so “Claire” was there for 3 hours. She worked only in the master closet. It is crammed full, but at least we were able to get rid of a ton of boxes.

Then, when Janet and I were talking about leaving, around 5:15, I noticed that Aunt Marie put on her coat and purse. It didn’t dawn on me that she thought she was gong with me. I tried to explain that this was her new home now and she was staying here. I went out through the garage and then she followed me. I could not dissuade her. She was insisting on getting in my car. I told Uncle Tony that I’d drive her around for 15 minutes and bring her back. Well, she could not get up in to my Jeep. It was heart wrenching to me that she was so upset and nothing I could do or say helped. She was begging me to take her home. Then she’d get mad and say, “Barbara, why won’t you take me home?!” Uncle Tony came out and tried to get her to go back inside. She flat out refused saying she was going home. I finally convinced her that she could get in their own car. We got her in and Uncle Tony was going to take her for a ride. I called Butch and sobbed!! I hate that she feels like I somehow betrayed her. I promised her that I’d take care of her. I’m trying. She’s 86, so I doubt there’s much time left. I’ll be spending more of mine with her.

One thing I know for sure, she was really tired. She did not have a nap which I’m sure added to her confusion. 

I am exhausted myself and my feet and back are killing me (here I go making this about me)—not much time for sitting. But, I feel really good about what we accomplished. I haven’t had to work this hard in a long time! Good to know I still can!! And it showed! We really made a dent in it.

I was hoping to leave early tomorrow to go home, but need to work some more. Believe me, I’m going to enjoy my needlepoint workshop Friday and Saturday! Just to sit and stitch will be like a vacation!

It wasn’t all sad, there were many funny stories this week too (sometimes you just have to laugh!). On Monday, I took Aunt Marie to Matt’s. When we got there, I let my brother drive while I got in the back seat. We had lunch and then he drove us around for awhile. When we got back to his house, I hugged him and then got back in the driver seat. Aunt Marie looked at me and said, “Where have you been?” I said, “Aunt Marie, I’ve been in the back seat!” She said, “All this time? I was wondering who Matt was talking to!” Then a little later as we were driving home, she said, “I wonder what Barbara did today.” I said, “Aunt Marie, I’ve been riding around with you all day!” She laughed then and realized her mistake (I think).

One thing I know for sure. I’m not waiting until 86 to clean out and move!! I’ve been procrastinating for far too long. I’ve got to get to it!