Gratitude

A wonderful day of getting the house organized. Above all the feelings of relief and excitement is a greater feeling of gratitude to all the folks who helped us get here. So…

Thanks to Jenni, Lisa, and Chloe for house sitting and protecting our home from the ravages or roaming peacock gangs, sketchy owl enclaves, and who knows what else. Thanks specifically to Jenni for sorting out our wifi, to Lisa for her helpful and hilarious post-its, and to Chloe for keeping the piano exercised.

Thanks to Stacey for baby sitting the delivery of my beloved old piano and going waaaay out of her way to pick up a table Maya just couldn’t resist.

Home.

Thanks to our realtor Karen Rosenberg who went above-and-beyond more times than I can count (and I can count pretty high) to ensure that our move-in process was as smooth as possible. How many brokers would offer to buy you groceries for your first night in your new home, three months after closing? Not many. Karen, you’re fantastic. And that first-morning oatmeal was a lifesaver.

A day of errands gave us the chance to see some of the beautiful countryside here. The roads from here to other towns are all fun to drive and lightly traveled. We saw several vineyards and farms and glimpsed both the coastal range and the Cascades through the clouds.

Yep! Bright green grass, in January. It was light jacket weather today. Take that, Nebraska.

We also wandered through Independence, Monmouth’s sister town, and were pleasantly surprised by the parks and restaurants. We saw a young woman walking her…rabbit…well, it’s Oregon after all. The rabbit was a “Flemish Giant” which may explain why I initially mistook it for a medium-sized dog. It was super sweet.

Other than that, the day was all about unpacking. We’ve got two sixteen foot containers to get through, roughly 2,048 cubic feet of stuff which weighs in at about six tons, most of it books.

I’ve got two of these to get through. And yes, they’re both full.