Homeless

You never really know how much your "stuff" means to you until you don't have it. About three months ago my wife and I left our home in Tennessee, put all our belongings in storage and (thunder crashes) moved in with my folks. Now first, lets get this straight. I love my parents dearly and I appreciate everything they do for us, including letting us stay with them until we find a new house. Now, with that said, I'm ready to find a new house. My wife and I have been living by ourselves for the better part of 16 years, not including our cat which we have had for 11 years. (Cats, by the way, don't live with you, they "allow" you to exist in their world.) Living with one another for that amount of time gives you consistency and comfort in an odd sort of way and when you rip yourselves out of your surroundings and severe all connections with your belongings, you have made yourself homeless. It's almost like loosing everything in a fire or tornado but thank goodness, we will be reunited with our chattels one day, whereas, those poor people have to completely start over.

Now we are at my parents house. The same house that I grew up in, as a matter of fact. It's like being a kid all over again. We now eat all our meals at the dinner table, an act that my wife and I never perform alone! It doesn't matter what kind of meal was prepared at our home, it became a t.v. dinner! There is also the dilemma of owning a cat and moving in with a dog! My parents own a poodle that loves to chase our cat around the house, so our cat has taken up residence in the closet by day and comes out only at night to sleep on the bed with us or at least wake me up in search of some much needed petting. My mom has gotten to that age to where all she wants to watch on television is politics and all she wants to talk about is politics and the one thing in life that I detest is, you guessed it, politics. So when it comes to t.v. watching time at my parents house, the wife and I escape to the bedroom for a little "normal" cable viewing. It seems to have become our own little "getaway". Lucky for me when we moved in, we decided to put our 55 inch television in the bedroom with us. It's like having a drive in theater at the foot of our bed! (maybe that's why I'm always eating popcorn) I hope we don't hurt the folks feelings but everyone needs their alone time in a relationship.

All in all, it hasn't been that bad of an experience and on the bright side, it has put me closer to my Mom and Dad. (much closer) I can look out the window from time to time and see my Dad working in his garden, or watering his garden, or cutting the grass, or watering the grass, or rotating his compost pile, or washing the car. My Dad likes to be outside a lot! It's always good to have Mom's good ol' country cooking too. If I stay here much longer I won't fit in any of my clothes anymore. Just being in my hometown has been a boost to my spirit and makes me ready to get on with the next part of my life. Just as soon as we get our "stuff"!