Moving In

Meg, Kyle and I left for Orlando just after breakfast today.  They arrived first to pick up the keys and were already parking the truck by the outside stairs leading up to her second-floor apartment when I arrived.  The next few hours were spent unloading the truck and unpacking some of the key items.  I wasn't great going up and down the stairs, so I offered to pick up the lunch that Meg ordered from Potbelly.  It also gave me some time to check out the area close to her new home.  There was a Target within a mile of their apartment and a shopping plaza with restaurants and several of her favorite stores. 

The afternoon went by quickly and soon Doug arrived after work.  He helped unload the last few pieces of the truck so that they could move the dining room chairs and tables from the Pilot into the apartment.  After working for a few more hours, we decided to check out downtown Baldwin Park and find a place for dinner.  We were extremely impressed with the area.  There was a CVS and a Publix plus a lot of other small shops all situated around a lake with a lot of activity.  There were multiple restaurants to choose from, and we found one that had a menu that everyone could enjoy.  We even got a table outside.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate Meg's first day in Orlando.

Road Trip

I was really worried that it would be hard to fall asleep last night with the excitement of Brett's blown tire, the loud fire alarm and sleeping on an air mattress.  Fortunately, I went right out and slept through the evening until 5:30 this morning when Kyle headed out the door.  Meg said that I could wake her up if I was ready earlier than our planned 6 a.m. wake up time.  She woke up easily, ordered her Starbucks and was on the road by 6:30 a.m.  I was very glad as I knew that if all went well, we would be in Atlanta before 4 p.m. which meant that we would miss rush hour.

I drove for the first three hours taking us through the easiest part of the trip - Southern Indiana, Kentucky and an hour of Tennessee.  Meg and I stopped in Nashville for a snack and a bathroom break.  It wasn't in the greatest area, but we had no issues and were thankful for the break.  Meg drove the rest of the way through Tennessee including Chattanooga.  I was thrilled that there wasn't any traffic, and Meg was glad that we finally caught up with Kyle.  

Georgia was long as usual, but we did have fun stopping at Buc-ee's for lunch.  Meg gave me a hard time about my road trip snack, but the pineapple was really good.  Once we cleared Atlanta, Meg switched to the Penske truck with Kyle.  He was ready for some company, and I was ok having some time on my own to listen to last night's Survivor and Amazing Race episodes and to check in with Doug.  The last five hours were long, and I was more than ready to get out of the car. Needless to say, I was very happy to make it home without any issues.  Doug and I had just enough time to unpack the CR-V before the truck pulled into the driveway.  We all then unpacked a few items from the truck that were going to stay at our home before eating Doug's delicious dinner.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing, thankful that for a safe road trip.

Next Stop Bloomington

I spent the morning repacking the CR-V so that we had room for both Meg and I plus a small tub of children's books that I wanted to take back to Ocala.  Everything fit perfectly and we were able to leave for Bloomington by noon.  Our first stop was Hacienda in Warsaw for lunch.  The food was delicious, and it was nice to revisit one of our favorite spots in Northern Indiana.  

We first stopped at Brett's apartment when we arrived in B-town.  He was still at work, but Cameron was available to hang out.  Meg had never seen his apartment and enjoyed the tour before we walked to Social Cantina for dinner.  It was a lot of fun catching up and hearing about Cameron's plans this summer and for his study abroad trip to Greece.  After dinner, Meg and Cameron took a long walk around campus while I picked up the van.  We dropped Cameron off at Cora's as they had a date to go bowling.  Meg and I left for Brett's apartment when he called to say that he was on his way home from School of Community in Indianapolis. 

A couple of minutes later Brett called back.  I could tell by his voice that something was wrong.  His tire had blown out as soon as he got on I-69 and he was stranded alongside the road.  Brett knew how to change a tire and had a spare, but it wasn't safe where he was to get out of his car without someone watching traffic for him.  I encouraged him to call the emergency line on for his insurance, while Meg called Kyle to see if he was close to where Brett was as we knew that the two of them together could fix the tire.  The bad news was that Kyle had already passed by the area and was close to Bloomington.  There was good news, however. The tow truck had actually called Brett and was only ten minutes away.  Neither one of us could believe it after his experience several years ago in a similar situation driving back from Illinois when he had to wait for several hours for help that never arrived.  Thankfully, this was not the case tonight and soon Brett was back at his apartment, eating dinner and talking about the pope and politics with Kyle while we all listened to the random fire alarm blaring from the garbage dumpster outside Brett's window.  It seemed fitting for the crazy night that we had had. 

Leaving Chicago

Doug dropped me off at the airport several hours before my flight to Chicago this morning.  I was thankful for the time to rest, relax and get a few things done before I left, especially since the next few days would be extremely busy.  While waiting, I even had time to book our nighttime kayak tour for our trip to the Keys in June.  The flight went very well.  I watched a few shows on the Southwest app and worked on my Blog as well.  The last half hour was a little bit bumpy, so I closed my eyes and pretended that I was riding Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom.

Meg picked me up at Midway and we headed straight to her apartment.  She was in the process of finishing packing and cleaning.  I started helping by taking the legs off of the table.  They had decided to dispose of it and take ours once they got to Orlando.  While we waited for our Chick-Fil-A to arrive, I cleaned, and Meg packed.  As soon as we finished eating, we started moving boxes downstairs.  I wasn't as much help as Doug would have been, but I did make ten trips up and down the stairs, plus packed the CR-V this afternoon.  

Meg and I were on the road well before 5 p.m.  When I first arrived, I don't think that either of us thought that we would make it out within five hours of me landing.  Needless to say, we were both thrilled to be on the road and didn't even mind the rush hour traffic.  Meg had been more than ready to leave Chicago, and I knew that I would never miss the three flights of steep stairs leading up to her apartment.  

The rest of our night was a lot easier.  We stopped by the Yoders to drop off several boxes to the truck.  We were ok riding that tightly for a two-hour trip, but not a twelve hour one.  Our next stop was Culvers in Goshen for dinner before heading to Grandma Jane's for the night.  She and Grandpa were waiting up for us and we enjoyed catching up with them and watching Switch before going to bed for a much-needed night of sleep.

Intramural Dodgeball and SAB

This week was the cumulation of two activities that Cameron had really enjoyed this semester.  The first occurred last night when he and his dodgeball team played in the championship game of the intramural league.  It had been a lot of fun listening to his stories about the games this season and of the tournament leading up to tonight.  I also appreciated that it gave us a reason these past few weeks to share quotes from one of our favorite family movies . . . "If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a wrench" . . . "Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge" . . . In the end, I was the happiest to see his post on Instagram announcing their championship win, and to hear the details of the game this morning.  After their upset win in the semi-finals, the 4-0 match last night was a little bit anti-climactic, but still fun to listen to just the same.

Tonight was the end year Student Athletic Board banquet.  Afterward, Cameron sent pictures of he, Cora and his roommate, Tyler, at Assembly Hall.  They all looked very nice, and I was very glad to hear that they had enjoyed their evening.  Even though Cameron has been a part of SAB for the past two years, I am still always surprised when he sends pictures from inside Assembly Hall or from the field of Memorial Stadium.  They are both such sacred places to Doug and I as IU Athletics was an extremely important part of Doug and my life in college.  I am really looking forward to seeing all that Cameron does as an IU athletic marketing intern next year.  I am sure that it will be even more amazing.

Packing the Truck

Meg sent pictures today of all of the items that they had already packed and put into the moving truck. There definitely was a lot of room left since they got a sixteen-foot truck for the price of a twelve due to a mix-up on Penske's part. I was glad to hear that Kyle had come up to help, and that they hired someone off of task rabbit to load boxes and furniture as well. I was very happy to see that Meg was able to fit her Papasan chair in the truck. She had had that chair since elementary school and just didn’t really want to part ways with it unless she absolutely had to leave it behind. I was also happy to hear that they would not only have room for Doug's Nigerian artwork but also the bookcase and rocking chair that we still had stored at Grandma Jane's.

Once all of the items got packed in the truck, the Yoder family went out to lunch and rested before Kyle and Nancy drove back to Jimtown. My parents made plans to meet them tomorrow night with our furniture and a few of Meg's tubs that would fit into the truck now as well. I was still a little anxious about how I would be able to handle the road trip, but Meg was positive that it would be a fun adventure for all. 

Heathbrook Square

When Doug asked me to come visit Ocala for the first time, one of the places that the people at his work suggested we try was Crazy Cucumber at Heath Brook Square. I remember pulling into the shopping center back then and being completely overwhelmed. It wasn’t just how big the area was, but the thought of moving to a place where I knew no one and was hundred miles away from all of my children. I think I even cried during dinner that night. 

Fast forward to this weekend when Doug and I spent an entire day at Heath Brook Square and had a fantastic time. We didn’t eat at Crazy Cucumber, but we did have lunch at The Great Greek. We also went shopping at Home Goods where we picked out some fun new items for the house. We saw the movie, The Amateur, that we both absolutely loved even though we had to sit in the front row of the theater.  Before we left, Doug found a new book from Barnes & Noble as well. It was incredibly nice to not have to drive very far for such an entertaining afternoon.

The other thing that is really nice to know now is that the distance hasn't changed my relationship with our children at all. I still hear from each one of them almost every day.  I see at least one of them every month like I planned when we moved.  I am so grateful that we have adapted to life in Ocala.  We have a wonderful church and new friends as well. Florida has made for a great place for our children to visit as well, since there are always a lot of activities for them while they’re here. Hopefully, Meg and Nick enjoy Florida as much as we do. Either way, it’s been a lot of fun and I’m glad we took the risk.