L wrote this in early 2020…but we never published it. So, here it is in its timeline.

It’s been a while since we wrote. There are so. very. many (too many) reasons. This is literally the first personal thing I’ve written in years.

In addition to big changes, the Karens of the world tried to shame us. Also, the country’s current “leadership” is so embarrassingly-gawd-awful that we were left with nothing much good to say. Blogging has been totally off our radar.

BIG stuff

• In 2016, I took a job at a little graphics company in our neighborhood. We’ve had some amazing perks: corporate vacations, free mountain and beach house rentals, fun parties (at work? yes, really), and so much more.
• In 2017, we took on a personal project like we did in 2014. (And with it, we kinda ditched the work on our house).
• In 2017-2018, E had one back surgery and two eye surgeries.
• In October of 2018, I became my grandmother’s guardian, and then that January, I moved her to Austin and into proper memory care.
• Four months later, my mom passed away from her broken brain. All of a sudden, we had (and still do for a bit longer) three households/estates to manage. Owning/managing 3 houses at one time when 2 of them are
  5 hours away is a lot, y’all. There are silver linings. I don’t dare list them for fear of jinxing it.
• Unrelated to that except that it gave me a window of opportunity, in February of 2019, I informally changed my first name. I’ve always hated mine; no one can say/spell it correctly. I knew that no one who would object would ever know. It was 10+ years in the making, and I finally did it. Because I don’t want to have to re-do the Guardianship, wait to make it legal.
• We made the decision to stop working on our house and focus on our future. Our house has increased in value by about 50% (yes, fifty!), so even if we sell it “as is,” and the new owners want to gut it and start over–like everyone else in the neighborhood is doing–we’ll still come out ahead. We aren’t willing to work on a house that we a) won’t be living in, b) won’t get a return on, and c) will get scrapped by the new owners, anyway.

So why post now?

We have some great news to share:

• A retirement date is within our sights! By the end of 2021 March 2021, we will both be retired.
• To that end, we ordered a motorhome (arrived in May)…
• …and we bought a 2-door, hardtop “Willys” Jeep Wrangler JL (follow E on Facebook to see that) to flat-tow behind it.

I’ve always wanted an RV. I’ve always wanted to see our country for lingering moments and not just from a car window at 70mph on the way to another place. I’ve always been too cramped in a car and wanted more space and to get up. (And I know that if my dad had lived to retirement age, he would have owned one, too. I wonder how many golf courses have full hookups?) I’ve also always wanted a Jeep. We were going to wait a few more months, but Life Is Too Short! Just like we have since falling in love, we are living life as full as we can.

We will be journaling our adventures; we’ll probably share a few moments here, too, (if the Karens can mind their own business). No matter what, it’s going to be a wild ride!

Funny Little Anecdote

We bought the motorhome from Bubba and Sheldon. Some moments, I practically couldn’t listen to them for reciting movie/tv quotes in my head. So, here is my favorite:

Harry: Obviously, you haven’t had great sex yet…
Sally: It just so happens that I have had plenty of good sex… [diner customers all stare at Sally]
Harry: With whom did you have this great sex?
Sally: I’m not going to tell you that!
Harry: Fine. Don’t tell me.
Sally: Shel Gordon.
Harry: Shel. Sheldon? No, no. You did not have great sex with Sheldon.
Sally: I did too.
Harry: No, you didn’t. A Sheldon can do your income taxes. If you need a root canal, Sheldon’s your man, but humpin’ and pumpin’ is not Sheldon’s strong suit. It’s the name. ‘Do it to me, Sheldon.’ ‘You’re an animal, Sheldon.’ ‘Ride me, big Sheldon.’ It doesn’t work.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098635/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu

Bonus Blue!

Fitting that the Pantone Color of the Year is like our wedding flowers were, one of my all-time favorite colors, was Daddy’s favorite, and also represents the smart voters (there is hope).