In my pre-move post (May Madness), I predicted that our Bealtaine-tide drive from Sonoma to Rochester was going to be a bumpy ride.
It was, indeed. Cassandra, at your service.
What I failed to predict was that the Rocky Road to Rochester would prove to be the easiest part of the journey.
To those of you imagining me happily ensconced in comfy new digs with naught on my mind but where to set my lovely things, I fear I must disabuse you of that illusion. Virtually no part of our relocation process has gone smoothly. Even the long-awaited arrival of our furniture and goods failed to improve things, as many precious goods arrived irreparably damaged, and some things did not arrive at all. On the missing list: half of my clothes and the essential tool of my creative life — the desktop computer that Ian, the son of my heart, built for me.
Despite the enormous and constant love and support from our family here and unending kindnesses from family and friends elsewhere, the relentless hitches and glitches, successions of heat bubbles and high dew points, difficulties establishing continuity of medical care, crap air quality (Canadian wildfires), three months of living out of a suitcase, and four moves to temporary accommodations have, for me, put this off-kilter summer on a par with the summer of my mother’s death and the winter when our house went up in flames.
On Tuesday, the last day of the season, the day before Lughnasadh Eve, most of our missing goods were returned to us, my clothes and computer among them. An omen, surely? The tide has finally turned?
When I first came on the snippet of a poem below, my inner voice drenched the words in sarcasm. Today, I believe that somewhere and for some, Summer has been generous and kind. I hope those someones are you. And may Lammas-tide and the Harvest Season bring unexpected delights to us all.
Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light,
And she sits on a sapphire throne.
Bryan Proctor
(1787-1874)
Bonus road trip? Sounds good to me! ;-)
(I’ll get my coat…)
Indeed, what could be finer than bumping along a rocky road for a season?
Since Lammas, we’ve made it off the dirt track and onto a gravel road, I’d say. Still haven’t found that smooth stretch of highway. Today’s heart-breaker — finally have a desk-like object for a monitor, so we tried to get my computer up and running. Won’t run. CPU fan has issues, according to diagnostics. Bumping along unprotected at the bottom of a giant box of clothing and baskets from Sonoma to a storage facility to a giant van to here to NYC to Boston and finally back here again didn’t do the computer’s components any favors, I expect.
Well, Life is a Highway, so Cochrane says. One of these days, surely.
MTBF, I’m afraid. Everything’s gotta go at some point. My large computer monitor upped and died last week. It’s the way of things. (I say all this conscious of the fact that were you sitting opposite me, you would probably punch me in the nose about now…)
The PC can be fixed. The main thing is to salvage the drive.
Salvage is the name of the game.
(I feel another punch swinging my way…)
<3
I’m so glad your belongings made it to you! I’d be just has upset about my stuff going missing somewhere across the USA. I hope things have begun to look up for you.
Thanks, Kaily. Yes, most everything has arrived. Most importantly, the irreplaceable missing items (like my computer!) are here. Now all I need is a desk to stick it under and put my monitor on. All in good time…
And yes, things are looking up here on the Harvest side of Summer. Still craaaaaazy complicated, still plenty stressful, still a f*ck-ton to do to turn the house into a home, but sleeping in our own bed every night and cooking meals in our own kitchen is making a world of difference.
My advice, get adventures like moving cross-country done while you’re still young enough to roll with the punches. ;)
“The tide has finally turned?” I fervently pray. From your lips to her ears. ¡Ojalá que sí!
Muchísimas gracias, amiga mía <3
You know what you have to do, right? You have to change out at least one of the toilets in your new abode to one that is sapphire-colored.
[chuckle]
Well, duh! It’s def on the to-do list.