NO REST FOR THE WEARY...OR THE RETIRED! (You read that right!)

Happy Retirement!  Flowers from my beautiful daughter, Carly, delivered to me at work!

WOW!  What a busy first morning I have had so far!  They do say that retirees are more busy than when they were working, and how did anything ever get done with work getting in the way!  Okay, I am exaggerating a bit.  I didn't have too much to do, since Ray has been retired for two months and playing the part of CinderFella. I am just puttering around the house mostly (plus, being on the computer doesn't count--mindless task to scroll facebook page and write emails to friends that can be done at any time but seem to take a while to get done).

While I couldn't really believe that this past week had finally arrived (shock more than denial of quitting my job), I am so happy to be done, not with dental hygiene per se, but with the dental office environment.  Is that politically correct enough?  If I could have done my job for the past thirty years  working as dental hygienists can in Colorado owning my own practice, now that would have been the way to go.  I made great friends at the last two offices I have worked at and these friends made it great those last few days.  Let's just say, I didn't get anywhere near the send off and "thank you for being so great these past few years" that Ray was given by his employer.  But the girls and I made fun for ourselves.  We made sure we got together with those we wanted to be with and made wonderful memories.  We appreciate each other, love, care and support one another. And again, things in the next few weeks at the office should be interesting.  Leave it at that.  Leave it at the door.

Anxiously trying to get home and get to the next day this past week was not helped in any way by the commute.  Driving home these past few days was horrible.  Tuesday afternoon, lovely day that it was, I left the office at 4:35 and arrived home at 6:15.  Do the math.  It did not take the usual one hour.  I heard at the last minute (as in "too late to bail") that only two left lanes of the highway were getting by at mile marker 139.5.  I know I looked at around the thirty minute mark and saw that I was coasting along at about 2mph and had reached mile marker 140.7.  Still a ways to go to see what the heck had happened up ahead to cause this mess.  There was a tractor trailer horizontal on the highway and over a guardrail.  We all eventually took over the left shoulder (what happened to two lanes being opened?).  Medevac chopper was on its way.  They were trying to disconnect the cable so the trailer could be removed from the cab.  Once through the accident, I heard that the center lane was open (guess two parts of the truck were on two different parts of the highway now).  Ray had my dinner on a paper plate (sub from Subway with chips he knows I like), told me to take shower, and then we would eat.  He knows my mood.  I was surprisingly calm.

Sitting stopped on the shoulder with three lanes of traffic to my right soon to merge.

Moving onto Wednesday, and there was a horrible hail storm.  I managed to get out of the office around 4:45 this time, and there wasn't any traffic until the heavy rains came.  BUT everyone paid attention, maintained a good speed, got pelted with the hail, and after about ten minutes, we were out of it.  I was concerned about my car since she has been sold, and I didn't want her damaged by hail!  Since many people were stuck on the highway way behind me, it took just over an hour to get home that night.  While making a salad with Ray for dinner, we heard a loud pop.  Out the cable went.  No tv.  Ray hooked the Roku up, and we started watching "Breaking Bad" on Netflix.  An hour later, out goes the internet.  Getting us ready for Panama here, but at least we had lights.  And water.  So we read our books.  Always have a back up plan.  Internet was restored within an hour, but the cable man needs to come today to restore tv.  This is why I am here writing this post.  I am tied to the house until he shows.  And then, once it is done misting outside, I can take a walk.  (This just in, our cable guy came thirty minutes earlier than the window of time that was given--wow!  Of course, he loved my car and that got us talking about Panama haha).  Four mile walk in, and now back to this and trying to figure out my archaic IPOD.

Back to work and the commute and my last day--Last night, I was super lucky that a patient that always has to see me canceled.  He was scheduled for six months at four pm.  I have seen his name on my schedule for months knowing that he would show, and I would be working a full day (horrors), because those four pm appointments are tough to come by, and with only wanting to see me, I just knew he would keep that appointment.  He canceled sometime on Tuesday.  Oh well, he won't be seeing me now. So out of the office I left around 3:30 (my last patient was fourteen!) after giving repeated hugs to my friends and two dentists.  I was home in no time flat (an hour).  FANTASTIC.  So happy.  It was pouring again, but I was super sunny and bright and clear in my head! I was finally excited!   Ray and I enjoyed a great meal out at Longhorn Steakhouse using a gift card a friend gave me, I have lovely yellow roses on one table (from friends at work along with balloons), and I have a beautiful bouquet of flowers on another table that Carly sent to my office. Cute story about Carly's flowers is that I was just explaining to a 76 year old sweet patient (another one that only sees me every six months--toot my horn here) why I had roses on my floor and a Hulu dancer on a balloon in the window.  We were talking about Panama, how her children moved to Seattle and "never looked back, but you just have to make the time to visit often, and it is a good thing to live an adventure", and then a delivery of flowers came into my room.  For me?  I looked at my patient and told her "yay, we get to see who sent me pretty flowers once I finish your cleaning, of course".  She had all of eight teeth (I was working hard), so the appointment is usually full of chatter.  Once I let her rinse out the paste, she and I opened the box together and saw that the bouquet was from Carly.  I was SUPER surprised!
Finishing up with last night, Ray and I watched more episodes of "Breaking Bad", and today I slept in until 8:30.  (I swear the clock had just shown 7:30 when I rolled over!).

They were too tall to sit on the counter, so they brightened the corner of my operatory.

That's me in the Hulu skirt.

Since it was drizzling out, I decided to switch up my "schedule" for the day.  Funny that last night before bed Ray said "wow, we are finally a retired couple together!  What will you do all day tomorrow?!"  I laughed and told him I thought I better make myself a schedule of some sort!  Yeah right, routines go out the door right about now!  What I did do was start by making a peanut butter Texas sheet cake to take to my dear friends river house tomorrow where we will celebrate our retirement and her gorgeous new home and pool!  And of course, I ate the batter!  Ray left me for the day (really?!) to have lunch with an old co-worker from his days with Giant Food, and then he is having dinner with many old co-workers from his law firm before and after it merged years ago (should be a great gathering).  He figured since he was way up there in Northern Virginia for the dinner, he would combine the lunch date and just stay up there for the day.  Then on Monday, Ray and I leave for Tazewell, VA to see his mom and family before we head to Panama.  We will be there until Thursday, so life is busy this week!  Better get my laundry done, ironed, folded, and I did get the bedroom vacuumed.

All done with the chores, the walk and the tv is restored. The sun is out so perhaps it is time to sit on the porch and read a bit (a murder mystery based in Panama called "Murder in Panama" by Robert Hatting).  Who knows what could happen next and right about now, who cares!  Time to rest my brain.  And. Just. Relax.

Student partners, 1983 (getting my hands on my first set of instruments)

Pinning ceremony, 1983

Last week of dental hygiene

TRES DÍAS MÁS DE TRABAJO! (THREE MORE DAYS OF WORK!)

It is coming to the end of a gorgeously sunny and spectacular holiday weekend (for most, it's three days off, but for me, it's four).  Memorial Day is today.  A federal holiday in the US in remembrance of those men and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces.  It was really strange to wake up Friday morning and for Ray to be in bed still asleep.  Since we have owned the lake house, I always take the Thursday afternoon off before the holiday and drive ahead to the lake house.  I buy groceries on my way down and enjoy the quiet until everyone else starts arriving either late Thursday night or Friday.  Ray always worked Friday until about noon, and he would then try to beat the traffic to get here.  The traffic usually beat him.  This weekend was super!  He was home, and we walked for five miles, which included walking to The Barn, so I could get the local paper.  I do miss reading a newspaper every morning with breakfast.  (I can get over this ritual if it means retiring, sleeping in and not commuting to work.)

We then lazily sat on the deck and sunned for a while thinking our one roommate would be here early in the morning.  Just about the time she arrived after lunch and closer to two pm, we had decided to suit up and go float!  We were hot!  I am NEVER in that lake water this early in the season.  This is unusual for me.  But I was hot on the deck, the water was cool, and to float above the water on the raft, was superb.  I had just bought a big Jane Goodall floppy hat, and life was great! Our roommate joined in the float, then shortly before dinner her sister arrived, pork chops were thrown on the grill, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner on the screened in porch.

Repeat for the next two days the above paragraph adding another roommate coming down on Saturday afternoon along with another sister and niece.  We chatted on the porch, ate hearty meals, the humidity was low, the sun was bright, there was a slight breeze, and the lake water got a little warmer.  Ray walked with me all the days, but once, and then I was alone and off to The Barn I went again for that newspaper.  Today the walk was much shorter (I could finally sleep in a bit, and I didn't care about the paper), Ray chose not to float, the neighbors were out with their grandchildren on boats and jet skis, and again, life continued to be great!   Meanwhile, and I don't blame her one bit, our daughter chose to enjoy her three day weekend spending time hiking at parks, getting her lesson plans done, maybe seeing a movie, and not getting stuck in three hour traffic to be here at the lake.  She knows that soon we will all be off for a good month, and our time spent with her won't be limited to the weekends.

Now this week I have twenty-three patients to see.  Three days of work.  I start an hour later tomorrow morning. I blocked my eight am slot a long time ago--just because.  I have many more patients this week that are patients that will only see me as their dental hygienist every six months.   Last week I spent a lot of time chatting with these same kind of patients.  I chatted into my lunch hour.  I chatted with patients up until their appointed hour was completely done and then some.  I chatted until the clock struck five pm.  I expect these next three days to be the same.  Chatting more than usual (hard to imagine!).  Explaining my future plans.  Saying goodbyes.

 I spent a few hours last Monday after work having dinner out with nine co-workers and one of the newest dentists.  What a great dinner that was--to spend a little bit more time with the same girls I had gone away with a few weekends ago and with this wonderful dentist.  There are some more changes that will be happening soon that coincide with my last week of work.  I am eager for these to occur and will elaborate in another post.  This Friday I will have a lot of time to myself to reflect on the past, present and future.  Ray is having lunch with a very good friend of his from his Giant Food days, and then he is having dinner with co-workers from the law firm he just retired from.  I will be alone in the lake house.  Ah, forget reflecting!  I will sleep in, walk to The Barn, daydream, read that newspaper, float--all of the above or maybe none of the above.  All I know is bring on Thursday night!  Bring on retirement!

WE HAVE A HOUSE!

Lots going on here!  Okay, not really.  Ray and I just came back from a nine day trip to Sonoma Wine Country and also spending another fantastic day in San Francisco with our wonderful friends from Tennessee (we traveled with this same couple last fall to Napa).  It was a great vacation (you know Ray being retired for almost two months really need a getaway), but the pollen!  I thought Virginia was bad and was hit with dark circles and big bags under my eyes upon my return from a beach weekend with my co-workers.  I thought California would be cleaner?  Or maybe I was thinking everything would have been bloomed and grown by the time we got off the airplane?  What was I thinking!  Apparently Sonoma County and northern California have a pretty high pollen rate!  Last week, the oak trees were in full swing.  The grasses and flowers were all growing and blowing.  And it was all stuck in my face and head.  And then Ray suffered by developing that night time cough, and then one other person in our group suffered that night time cough.  So for about a third of our vacation, I was in bed by nine pm with my head feeling full and the rest of my body feeling lethargic and non-vitalized!  The wine tasted off a bit, but that didn't stop me from tasting 96 of my favorite kinds!  I celebrated my 49th birthday, and I had a relaxingly calm, quiet, and peaceful Mother's Day.  I did miss seeing Carly though.  This will be one of many events and holidays to follow, I realized again, that I will not be hooking up with her.  I was not only feeling a bit under the weather, but I was also feeling homesick.  But I know we will make up for it all the times we come back to VA or she visits us, or better yet, when we travel to other far away exotic places!  I have no worries that we won't see each enough or make it a priority to get together somewhere.

This brings me to our living situation in Panama and where Carly can spend time with us when we move there!  Our great friends, Clyde and Terry, once again hit their gringo trail and "toured" a three bedroom, two bathroom house in a gated community with a pool in the town of Chame.  Not getting into too many specifics just yet about the house, since I am not there and I haven't seen it myself except for pictures that the owner has on her site, and then Clyde took fifty additional more for me (Thanks, Clyde!), the house was given the thumbs up when they did the walk through.  Many A++++ later (given by Clyde) and a "take the house" by Terry, Ray and I emailed the Canadian owners, wired our deposit and first months rent etc, and with the wire going through tonight, they will email us back the signed contract.  And we will move in sometime the first week of August.

Chame.  Not exactly El Valle.  But the way Ray and I see it, there are two properties we are interested in El Valle.  We want to see and tour these houses once there.  We think it might be best to spend rainy season out of the mountains.  Then, possibly once our contract ends, we will either ask to stay on in this fabulous looking house or move up to the mountains for dry season.  Who knows!  This house in Chame looks wonderful, comes with a neighbor that will help us with odds and ends to get started knowing the ins and outs, comes with a community pool, is secure (for the most part, but just because it is gated doesn't mean I will let my guard down), and just seems organized.  We have done so many things efficiently, smoothly and orderly, I was hoping to move into our first home in Panama the same way.  With calmness.  Knowing it is clean and organized.  This, along with vacationing, was accomplished this past week.

Tomorrow, Ray and I are meeting a couple that found us through this blog.  We are meeting at a quaint restaurant that I love in Culpeper, VA.  We will share with them our stories, answer any questions they may have, find out where they are at with their plans on moving to Panama (I think they are a few years out still), and wonderfully make new friends.  I have seven days of commuting to work (three and a half work days this week--yes, I am still cutting out early this Thursday since it is Memorial Day weekend-- and three days the next).  This past week was difficult working two whole days.  I will miss many of the girls I have worked with these past eight years, but I won't miss the "hoopla" surrounding the past months events.  For now, I am going to enjoy this sunny Friday (the beautiful blue sky after a stormy night of rain and hail) cutting low lying branches off trees, pulling some weeds, taking a long walk working off all of that wine, and spending the day tinkering.  Looking forward to many more days of just tinkering in Panama.

PENSIONADO VISA--YES!

Email just came in this week that we have been approved for our Pensionado Visa!  Okay, what this actually means is that we have to go into the Migrations Office within a year or we will be fined, show them our temporary card and passport and one day later we should have that hot little permanent card that states "indefinito" on it!  AWESOME!  Fantastic lawyers I must say!  So on August 3rd we will land in Panama City, hang out until the next day in some hotel, meet with our attorneys the next day (This is still to be confirmed.  Is August 4th a holiday?  NOPE, there are no holidays as of this writing in August haha), and we will be driven to the office again to get the job done!  So psyched!
Maybe Ray won't have such a cone head in his permanent picture!
Tomorrow our friends, Clyde and Terry, meet with an owner of a rental house in Chame.  Let's see if we have a place to live soon, too.  Stay tuned!  Getting better and better by the day!  Oh, and the Visa took approximately 3 1/2 months from Day One in January.
Vacation tomorrow, a little Cinco de Mayo thrown in there, my birthday, and Mother's Day--so many reasons to celebrate!

RAIN, RAIN FINALLY WENT AWAY

Not that I will want to wish rain away too often when living in Panama, because I know that all of the rain water brings colorful plants, flowers, less dust and dirt in the house, and electricity, most importantly.  But after coming home from a gorgeously sunny and warm weekend at Rehobeth Beach, Delaware with my fun-loving, loyal and trusting co-workers, I didn't want it to then be cloudy, dreary, cold and rainy.  Five inches of rain for this matter.  Buckets and buckets.  Our neighbors Rubbermaid shed was floating in the lake this morning.  Our decorative solar lights were poking out of the swollen lake water.  The water came up to where we sit on our picnic bench and look into the lake for fish.  We didn't see any tonight after our walk.  There is a jet ski floating in the lake.  But now the water is receding.  And after three days, the rain stopped today.

This is a rarely used picnic table.

Our neighbors boat house across the way.

The picnic table we sit at and look down into the water for fish.

Our neighbor's dock under water.

Normally the rip rap is seen.

A soggy mess.

Before the storminess, we had bright blue skies and several sunny days of spring that brought swarms of bumblebees just doing their job pollinating the trees at the lake house and beyond!  Yes, I had late nights this past weekend with only a few hours of sleep, but I also suffered hard from allergies this past week.  Ray made the comment Monday morning (he was out of bed before five am for whatever reason...not to taunt me, of course) "wow, you are looking a little..."  I didn't let him finish.  Dark circles and bags under my eyes which I never really present with were going to stick with me for three days.  I think the skin under my eyes is almost flat and pale.  I started feeling rested and more open minded today.  I knew I looked a hot mess when I had tea bags on my eyes! I jumped right back on the Claritin bandwagon after missing my doses over the weekend.  Who needs Claritin at the beach?  I had other medicinal cures ;)  Or maybe it was the baby shrimp Ray tried to slip me when we grabbed dinner out on Sunday night.  He had ordered stuffed pork chop fajitas which usually come stuffed with chorizo.  I asked him for some of the pork since I was having vegetarian fajitas and felt the need for some protein.  I told him I thought I had just eaten a baby shrimp.  It was pink and round and chewy like shrimp.  I am allergic to shrimp.  He doesn't even eat shrimp let alone any seafood.  He read the sign that stated Stuffed Pork Chop (which is where we stopped reading when we assumed it was the same meal he had had before) with Chorizo and Shrimp.  So maybe these dark circles and bags are a result of his poisoning me and not the pollen?  Not that one baby shrimp would do it, but it did cause a slight tingling of the back of my tongue and inside my lower lip.  Nope, still no camarones for me.  

This past weekend, nine friends of mine (and wonderfully loyal co-workers), whom I hardly ever see outside of the office, "celebrated" (some of us more than others) my future retirement.  What a good time!!!  I will miss these girls.  I just wrote and turned in my resignation letter, and because of an upcoming vacation we have had planned for six months, I have NINE MORE WORK DAYS!  My resignation letter states that my last day is May 29th.  Today was my last day of work until mid-May, since we leave for vacation on Saturday.  Does Sonoma have pollen?  The wine should help keep my head clear :)  The commute along with my allergies were impossible this week, but there is such a  light at the end of the tunnel!  A  five mile walk tonight, catching up on some recorded season finale tv shows, along with a manicure tomorrow and not setting the alarm clock are all the order of the next twenty four hours! This little light of mine is looking brighter and brighter!  Summertime soon, road trip with our daughter, airline tickets in hand for August, and we will be just in time for rainy season in Panama!

105 DAYS! AND HAPPY EASTER, TOO!

Oh dear, here we go!  Countdown to Panama!  Okay, I have several countdowns in my life right now. I am counting down the days until my retirement--18 work days, but since there is a ten day vacation thrown in there along with Memorial Day being a holiday,  39 days until I say "Sayonara" to the office setting, 12 days until vacation and there are 32 days until my long holiday weekend.   And finally, Ray and I have travel lined up to Panama with it being 105 days until we fly out of here on August 3rd with a return ticket back for November 23rd.  THREE MONTHS HERE!  We have made arrangements with our daughter (you always want to book family and friends in advance, since the summer will pass quickly!) to take us to the airport or perhaps just to the hotel the night before our flight.  Lake Anna is two hours from the airport, and our flight is at nine am.  No, I won't be leaving here to get there any earlier than I have to!

In my two plus years researching our retirement to Panama, I have read a lot about holidays in Panama mostly with the traffic that coincides with the holiday breaks.  Thousands and thousands of Panamanians leave Panama City and flock to the interior to take a much needed break at the beaches or in the mountains.  There are many vacation homes that sit empty until the owners revisit during the  long holiday breaks.  I have counted (always counting) 23 holidays in Panama (give or take a few days that might be added around the actual holiday).  With the thousands of cars on the road (there is one road) getting the Panamanians to the interior, there is gridlock.  There have been several accidents in the last few days on the PanAmerican Highway.  The expats, if they have lived there long enough, if they have done their research, if they have friends that have had experiences being in the thick of the chaos, know to batten down the hatches and stay home.  They know to make plans according to when the grocery stores will be overpacked and lacking in supplies, the roads will be congested and the quiet beaches will be chaotic.  They know to shop early for groceries and staples and to stay close to home.  Heck, they are retired, and the beaches and grocery stores will be there for them the next day.  They also know to keep the earplugs close by for the fireworks and loud music that will go on into the wee hours of the morning.  And they know to have their alcohol bought prior to the holiday since there are days of prohibition.  And if they want peace and quiet, they know to head to Panama City where the stores are empty, and there are sales galore!

How does all of that relate to my week prior to the Easter holiday.  I certainly can drink anytime I want, I have only needed earplugs to drown the chattering of the birds out (but heck, I turn my hearing aids on so I can finally hear the music haha), but alas, I cannot avoid the chaotic mess of the highway.  There is pretty much just one way to my office.  I have to get over the Rappahannock River, and then, just for kicks, I could get off the highway and take an even longer route to get to work.  Nevertheless, the only way north to work is to get over this one body of water first--the Rappahannock River that runs through Fredericksburg, VA.  For history buffs, there was the Battle of Rappahannock River fought during the War of 1812.  This river also provided a barrier and defensive line for troops during the Civil War.  It was a difficult barrier for Union troops to take over southern Virginia.  In other words, not much has changed in the last two hundred years!  Everyday thousands of commuters have to fight the traffic to get over this river.  Ray and I have fought this river daily this past week.  We have been in the chaotic mess of the holiday week.  There are numerous counties surrounding I-95 North to Northern Virginia.  Some of these counties celebrated school spring breaks this past week.  My daughter was off from teaching last week.  Other counties close the schools this coming week.  I foolishly thought, for half a second, that there would be less traffic.  People would be on vacation.  They would be like the Panamanians and flock to the beaches or to New York City (many friends take their kids here when on break) or go on cruises even.  My commute hasn't really changed.  It was eight times as long one week ago on the Thursday night prior to  spring break for many in this area.  It stays about six times as long going to work and coming home at night (one hour).  Ray hasn't been left out of the mess either.  He had to travel over the river to Northern Virginia two days last week, and there was not one day of accidents getting in his way but both days.

Our mess here daily

Holiday mess in Panama

Then Friday, Good Friday, came along.  With our daughter being off on break and me being off on Fridays, I had made plans with her to spend the day with her (she is just that lucky).  Ray, being retired, decided to join us in the festivities.  In the past, when she has been on break, we do some damage shopping.  This past Friday was no exception.  I was the lucky one that benefited mostly from the springtime sales.  I loved having Carly help me choose what and what not to buy and wear.  Getting to her apartment was easy breezy.  It takes about an hour and a half from the lake house to Fairfax, VA.  Coming home, it just about doubled.  Fortunately, there weren't any car accidents standing in our way.  Unfortunately, there were just thousands upon thousands of cars making there way into or out of town for the holiday weekend/week.  Almost double the time to get home.

What I was shopping for on Friday (minus those boots--blech--and won't work in Panama!)

 Unusual weekend to have so many plans in Northern Virginia, yesterday had us back on the highway traveling about the same distance to a friend's birthday dinner.  Two plus hours later, we arrived early and hungry.  Our early arrival had us driving around a bit (more driving sight seeing and touring homes in our old stomping grounds from 1987).  Driving home at night, the only thing we saw were deer on the side of the road.  That could be fortunate or unfortunate.  Today, we head back to our daughter's apartment because she, at the last minute, became our Easter holiday hostess with the mostess.  Sure, I could have had dinner here, but I didn't want my daughter and nephew to have to make the drive here.  Ray's retired, and since he is driving Miss Daisy everywhere, I can suck it up one more day.  And besides, in 105 days I will have my Panamanian holiday calendar at the ready, and I will know when to load up on bread, toilet paper and milk--wait, that's what we do here when a big snow storm is on its way--fruits, meats and liquids will be stocked, and I will have my hearing aids out and earplugs at the ready!

End of the day update:  while we hit traffic going North on I-95 to our daughter's apartment today and had to drive the country backroads to get there (taking all of the two hours we gave ourselves to get there), Facebook messages popped up along the way showing tragic accidents in the interior of Panama with fatalities.  My trip was thankfully uneventful with just many cars on the road getting in our way.  We were even behind a tractor (oh no, not another tractor) carrying very large bales of hay (Ray shys away from tractors now!).   Just a reminder to me to stay home during those holidays in Panama.

SOLD AND SETTLED!

Kudos to me and Ray for getting our house in Stafford in tip top shape, our belongings sold or moved to the lake house, our taxes done along the way, jobs tidied up, and paperwork signed at settlement yesterday!  I will toast us tonight at dinner!

 After we sold our TV on Friday, we went to see the movie "Divergent".  I didn't really want to see it, since I thought it was a rip off of the movie "Hunger Games", but it is a 2 1/2 hour movie and was sure to kill some time for us later Friday night. We had done all we could with the house, so dinner and a movie were on the list of things to do to get our minds off the upcoming chore of moving on Saturday.  We managed to get a comfortable nights sleep on our mattress, and Saturday morning had us out the door by eight am to pick up the rental truck.  The computer at the service station was slow, paperwork seemed to take forever and even getting the truck from up the hill was a task for the young man, but once Ray was behind the wheel, we booked it back home to load up the truck.  Neighbors came out to say "hi" and "goodbye" once last time, we put our gravity chairs on the truck to go back to the lake house, we put two pieces of antique furniture on the truck (my friend was unable to pick it up from Tennessee the week prior), we managed to get that antique rocking chair onto the truck (since rocking chairs didn't want to fit in Ray's Mini-Cooper), and we loaded it up with suitcases stuffed with clothing.  Within forty-five minutes we were at the lake house quickly unloading the truck.  I left my car behind, and off we went back to Stafford to wait for my two nephews to show up for the move to their mom's house with some furniture she was buying and taking from us.  We had a good thirty minutes to sit on our porch soaking up  the warm sunshine and taking a selfie in front of our soon to be sold house.  More "goodbyes" to other neighbors, my nephews showed up to load up some heavier pieces of furniture (no way was I going to be of any help), and this time we drove north about thirty minutes to my sister's house.  My sister and her boyfriend had just started the spring/summer season at a Farmers Market (my sister owns a bakery, and her boyfriend is the baker), so she was busy making some money while we unloaded dressers, mattresses, nightstands and tables into her house.  Perfect timing for my sister to arrive home and help us make her new bed!  The busy day had stirred up a huge appetite, and it was a late lunch/early dinner for the five of us.  We lounged at "Not Your Average Joe's" restaurant eating great food and having even better conversation catching up with my nephews.  Once Ray and I got back into the rental truck, we made one more trip to the house in Stafford and collected some refrigerator items and his car (which had been filled up once more earlier that morning).  I followed Ray to the Home Depot in Fredericksburg which is where the rental truck had to be dropped off.  Another long and arduous process of now trying to drop off the truck since the woman behind the register had never done a "truck rental drop off" before.  It had been a long day.  Back to the lake house we went longing for a really long and good nights sleep!

My sister's things loaded up on the truck.

Our just about emptied out garage (the cabinet is staying with the new owners)

Hate moving days.

In front of our soon to be sold house that we owned for eight years.

Sunday had Ray and I taking a five mile walk in the neighborhood, grabbing lunch at Chilis and grocery shopping.  It was an uneventful day of shopping and trying to make room in our cluttered environment.  All good things must come to an end though and on Monday I was lucky enough to start my forty-five mile commute one way to work.  I left too early of course, but I didn't know what to expect (school buses, accidents on the highway, which exit would be the best to take) that first day. Monday through Thursday while I went to work, Ray was busy on the phone with Comcast cable company (one to one plus hour phone conversations trying to hook up Magic Jack, and making sure they didn't disconnect us again, and settling up our bill they had screwed up in the process of wrongly disconnecting us), registered our cars in this county of Spotsylvania, changed our address, cleaned up and straightened the garage some more, made sense of his things in the bedroom, sold two tables and a rocking chair on Craigslist (done with this!), made me dinner, brought home cupcakes, picked up his eyeglasses and delivered modems and boxes to the cable company.  We also managed to walk three out of the four work nights.  Yes, I had a tough first week going to work and leaving him to roll over in bed at 6:15 am.  Yes, I aired my difficulties (big sigh here that I was whining a bit about not being retired with him), and yes, I am over it.  Until this Monday.  No, actually, my having three days off, my being in the quiet at the lake house today on a beautifully sunny and warm day with no one around, and my feeling huge satisfaction in all the we have done together these past two months to get ready for our goal of moving to Panama has brought me to a state of acceptance.  I have twenty days of work left, and it will all be good.  I do feel a sense of urgency that I won't have a lot of time this summer before I leave, but this is because I am still thinking like a working woman.  I have to remember I will have seven days a week off and not just the weekends.  Okay, back to all things good.

What a day yesterday was, and it was another long one.  Ray and I jumped in the car by seven thirty yesterday morning to head up the highway to Costco.  I have had this "clicking" sound in my right hearing aid every time I am in the car with the radio on.  Call it a click, a crick or a crack, it has been an annoyance, and it disturbs my holding a good pitch when singing (yeah right, don't ask me to sing) at the top of my lungs with the convertible top down (did I write how gorgeous it has been these past few days?).  First, I wanted to see my house one last time.  Pulling up to the house we noticed the future owners had put black shutters on the front of the house, and they had the front door painted black (we had just had a fresh coat of dark green painted on it this past fall).  In the garage were all of the kitchen appliances.  In the kitchen were brand new stainless steel appliances.  They were busy folk!  New ceiling fans, new electrical outlets, painting completed, new carpeting, and new shelving in the closets were all noticed and make an impressive mark on the house.  And in about eight hours it would not be our house anymore.  We bumped into the neighbors walking their elementary school aged children to the bus stop, bumped into the future owner who had told us the movers had backed out of the job, and she was now hustling to get new movers to the house for today, and then we were on our way to Costco.  Once that task was completed (and yes, with the loaner aid, I realize it is the aid and not me "hearing things"), Ray and I went to the Apple Store to have my laptop evaluated once more.  The screen likes to come up blue sometime.  A new drive would be ordered and installed, and I was satisfied to hear that I am not the cause of the computer malfunctioning.  Seems there have been some quality control issues with the 2012 Macbook Air models So not my fault here either fortunately, since I have had trouble in the past with laptops.

Lunch time was once we made it to Stafford County.  It is spring break, and, of course, I-95 needs even more of a reason at twelve thirty in the afternoon to be congested and clogged.  Wings and a salad along with some yummy Buffalo Chicken Dip were ordered, and our bellies were full.  But we still had some time to kill before our settlement time at four pm.  We shopped at Target, had chai tea at Starbucks and off we went to the attorney's office.  What a nice two hours at settlement.  It couldn't have gone any smoother.  The attorney is a patient of mine, and the soon to be owners of our house know her very well, also.  Ray and I were to sign just a few papers, the deed to the house was signed, keys and remote controls to the garage were passed over, and the new owners of our old house brought champagne to toast!  They thought we would finish together, but they still had many more papers to sign.  The attorney said it would be no problem for us to drink champagne while they completed their paperwork, and so we did!  We spent another twenty or so minutes drinking champagne and watching them sign all the necessary documents, and once there was a lull, we were out of there!  Hugs and promises were then made to get together for dinner one weekend before we leave for Panama and also to see them at their annual Christmas party.  And off we went home to Lake Anna.  How odd is it to write that.  What a feeling and sense of accomplishment!  Ray and I arrived to the lake house ready to eat the remaining cupcakes from the night before (the flavors were blueberry pancake--so good!--and chocolate peanut butter--sort of predictable, but still quite good), and to just veg in front of the TV.  That felt good, too!  It had been a long day, along with quite a few long weeks!

Today Ray woke up to drive to his dad's house in Louisa County.  His dad has been having many yard sales to try and sell off an extensive collection of things in his shop and garage.  He will be moving to Georgia once his house sells, and he hasn't broken down to selling on Craigslist yet.  Ray was another set of eyes to watch over those eager to spend money on his dad's "stuff".  I, on the other hand, not retired yet and having ONLY three days off a week (haha) stayed behind at the lake house to take a leisurely five mile walk and wash my car.  I walked to the newly reopened Barn store to get a newspaper (I have missed my morning newspaper), but the delivery has not started of the one I usually read.  I bought The Central Virginian instead, and I discovered it is too annoying of a paper to continue to read in the future.  The paper was lacking in content and the writing style was unsatisfactory.  I turned to a People magazine instead.  There, that was better!  And sat on the deck to read with the birds going to town talking and singing.  Let me mute those hearing aids!  One roomie was coming to the house this morning and made it to the lake house at around two pm in record breaking time of three hours (twice the time it should take), and Ray arrived about thirty minutes later.  We had plans for dinner and a play at The University of Mary Washington, so off we went at around four thirty to meet our friends that were also driving from Northern Virginia.  We drove farther north, changing restaurants, in order to give them ample time to eat dinner.  Traffic.  The play we saw was "Lysistrata", and I am still confused and perplexed by it.  An odd play for a college theater.  Just an odd show altogether.  But like my lake house roomie said, it's always good to get out and do different things.  This was definitely different.

Tomorrow Ray will leave for his mom's house once more.  He will drop off two suitcases and ten bags of clothing.  And he will return the next day.  Then retirement for Ray should begin.  We can start daydreaming again about Panama and house hunting can continue.  Now that we own one third of a house, we can look forward to renting a house for a while in Panama.  Amazing how selling a house and unloading all of that "stuff" lifts so much off our shoulders.  Even though we seem to have more days together in the future, it seems like those days will be full of activity and adventure.  Here's to more warm, sunny days sitting on the deck mindlessly reading entertainment magazines and lackluster newspapers preparing for our future move to Panama.

Love when these trees "snow" (like I really want to see more of that!)

Soon the trees will be full, and we will have a smaller, but still pretty, glimpse of Lake Anna.

The birds are going to town.  It was a long winter for them as well.