Goodbyes

As they say, I don't know who "they" are, by the way, all new beginnings start with and end.  My end was very emotional and bittersweet.  

I guess, before I get to the ending of the new beginning, I should give you a little history so  all of this makes a little more sense.

My mountain man and I have been married now for  26 years.  Most of them for better a few of them for worse.  Together we raised our three great kids. Changed jobs, careers, houses and pets.  Last year was one of our epic "for worse" years.  Only a year after Mountain Man's long time employer decided that he and MANY of his coworkers no longer needed to be employed my Mountain Man had the health year from hell that ended with a completely torn off hamstring.  Oh, and by the way, I also had to go back into the work force.  

As all of my family and friends know, that whenever things go from bad to worse, my go to idea is that I'm just going to run away from home and find a tiny little cabin in the mountains where no one knows me.  One year, our family had a "dream" Christmas.  We all picked the "perfect" gift to give each other and wrote down what we chose to give and why.  Mountain Man and I, with a good amount of surprise, gave each other a cabin in the mountains.  The idea was planted.

While Mountain Man was layed up for a full six months with surgery and recovery, I played nurse (quite effectively, I might add), and continued to work my menial job.  Needless to say, by the end of this period MM was quite lonely and depressed and I was exhausted!  When MM's best friend who also lost his job, he and his wife decided it was time for a new start in a new state and arrived here in Georgia last July.  So once MM was back on his feet (and his a__) he informed me that he decided that at our age life was getting way to short.  He made arrangements for us to come down and spend a few weeks with our friends.  Oh, AND look for a cabin in the mountains.  Since I've always encouraged my kids and my friends to take chances in life and try new things, who was I to say no to this new adventure?

Not thinking that we would ever find anything that we would like in our price range, or that the area would actually be appealing, off I went on this big adventure.  Well, surprise!  The third cabin that we looked at was not only affordable, but was the exact layout of my "dream cabin" of that past Christmas.  Being one who firmly believes in omens and signs, off we went to make an offer on the cabin and you guessed it, the seller accepted!  Things like this just don't happen this easily for us.  To loosely quote one of my favorite lines from my favorite movie, I couldn't have been any more surprised if I woke up with my head nailed to the carpet!

Long story short, after a few false starts our Ohio digs sold and from various hitches and giddy ups we had three different closing dates.  I'm packing like a mad woman and arranging my first out of state move.  Out of state moves require MUCH more detail and organization making me even MORE of a mad woman!  AND since the closing dates didn't line up, we are now temporarily staying in an adorable little cabin on the Nottley River.  Bonus vacation days before the second half of "the big move".

Now that you have the, believe me, VERY abbreviated version of the story, back to the goodbyes.  Our oldest daughter lives in Florida.  Needless to say, she was ecstatic that we would be only eight hours away from her now.  Our middle daughter was VERY supportive of our decision.  She sees it as a new vacation opportunity.  Smart girl!  Our youngest, "the token son" and his wife, our third daughter, since we have known her since she was six, were the least happy of all.  In all honesty, since they have our only two grandchildren, this was the most difficult part of the move for me.  I have never been separated from my younger two or my grands for more than a few months.  Logically, I know that all three of our kids were raised as well as we could and that they will be fine without mom and dad's help.  Missing them will be another story all together.  I still miss oldest daughter like crazy and she's been in Florida for 10 years!  You have to understand, I'm the mom that even though my kids are all in their 30's now I still love to get the rare opportunity to put my head to their chest and listen to their hearts beat.  They are the best part of me and my grands are the best part of them, which makes them absolutely perfect!  

The night of the goodbyes was an evening filled with laughter,  love, and lots and lots of tears.  I am realistic enough to know that with all of the modern conveniences of telephone and internet that the Ohioans are literally only a button click away.  But you can't hug, kiss, sneak a stolen sniff of their own personal scent or just snuggle on the internet.  I, for the first time in my adult life, will live in a place where the only other person that I am actually related to, that knows me as well as I know myself will be my husband.  No kids, grands, cousins, or anyone else.  Just he and I.  I will now start the second half of my life finally learning who I am, as just a person.  Not hiding behind the title of mom or Bhakti.  I am blessed with a Mountain Man husband who encourages me (I'm stealing a line from a commercial here) to be the best I can be.  No excuses, no hiding, I'm on a new adventure and I hope you'll join me for the fun, the fears, the laughter and the tears of Mountain Mags!