Hubby and I made the trip south this past week. I won’t say it’s for the winter because we have to return to our northern home for a couple of weeks in December for meetings and doctors’ appointments. After that, we should be completely south for the winter.
Last year while we were in Amarillo, Rapid City had one of the snowiest winters on record. Needless to say, we were glad we didn’t have to deal with that. How this winter turns out remains to be seen. Our two weeks back home may convince us to keep coming south.
We will be making the trip south only as long as our daughter is in school (another year or two) or until they decide to sell or rent out their house. Since this isn’t a long-term thing, we’ll enjoy every minute we get to stay here. Our own house has three floors and lots of stairs. Daughter’s house is single level which makes me wish ours was. It’s so much simpler to clean and no fear of falling down stairs comes with it.
She provided us with the minimum needed to live here. Enough in the kitchen to cook, enough towels to dry with, a large TV with many stations, and friends we love to spend time with. That’s all we can ask for or expect or need. The bonus is the large hot tub we spend cold nights in that warms our old bones. That’s a real treat.
When we go home, I look at all the stuff we have and realize I don’t need all of it. It gives me a strong desire to toss all those things that are extra. I tried but kept running up against the “I just used that” or “I use this when I …” which makes tossing things so much harder. We still have most of the stuff but someday, we’ll have the fortitude to jettison it.
I’m looking forward to a winter of writing, going to the church here, going to some of the many restaurants around here, shopping at the large grocery stores, and doing other shopping that I can’t do at home. I hope to spend some time with my writer friends who live here and in Lubbock. Hubby and I may even take a little vacation and explore parts of Texas we want to see. It should be a fun winter.