Signs and Portents

Another Red Letter Day for a variety of reasons.

First, we now have a home telephone number in Oklahoma! No, I am not going to share it. But we will actually be listed in the telephone directory. Due to the kind of work I do, I haven’t been able to do that for many years and have been looking forward to it.

Next, after a lot of thought, I prepared a resume and applied for a job back home. With my office all but dismantled, it wasn’t easy. My good laser printer is off in Oklahoma and I have a backup piece of junk that is held together with dust and spit. I had to press it as hard as I could against the desk top to keep it from bouncing around and making the words all quivery. I can’t say as I was completely successful but think I may have built up some muscle in my biceps. I am used to having a nice, professional office and it sure seems amateurish to have to dig through packing boxes to find a few pages of decent paper. I could have used my former letterhead but since I’ve given up my post office box, telephone numbers and am no longer licensed in Virginia, it would have been filled with slashed out lines and that would look cruddy. After I was finally satisfied with the resume (or was sick of dealing with it), I couldn’t get the stupid printer to accept an envelope. Let me just share with you that that has-been printer was already heading for the dumpster – but now I won’t feel guilty about it.

Sometimes, it is nice to get a sign that you are doing the right thing. Now, I don’t think that resigning from the state bar is a hard call since we are leaving IN LESS THAN A MONTH. All the same, confirmation from the universe is never a bad thing. Let me show you what Ms. Pearl, my little messenger from heaven, delivered when I walked back into the house from the mailbox:

Wait for it - it's coming...

Oh yes. She chewed up my certificate to practice law in Virginia. She has never chewed up anything like that and has had free reign in my office since she came to live with us. No going back now, baby!

I also received some sad news, today. My former mother-in-law passed away after struggling with ill health for the past year and half or so. I was a child bride at sixteen and she was so good to me. I thought she was the smartest woman I’d ever met. It seemed like she knew everything there was to know about children and medical stuff (she worked for a health insurance company) and cooking and gardening and history and life in general. Now that I am about six years older than she was when I first met her, I realize that her genius was, in large part, just a product of being a grown up. But that perception doesn’t change that in my heart of hearts, I still think she was a remarkable woman. She lost her mother when she was only a child. She lost a son in a tragic accident when he was only twenty. She wore her grief, quietly, but it was always there even though she didn’t talk about it. I am comforted that she has reunited with her son, her mother and her husband and that all her sadness is gone.

It has been a difficult couple of years for my former husband’s family and my heart goes out to them and the grandchildren, including my own kids. Legally, she was no longer my mother-in-law. Practically, she wasn’t happy with me, especially after her son and I divorced. She wouldn’t speak to me and that cut to the heart. But I loved her and her failing health has been a source of great concern to me. I’ve shed a few tears this afternoon. I will consider her to be my mother-in-law until my dying day.

I didn’t get much packing done, today – it was one of those days. I worked on the resume, this morning, before trying to get us set up for internet, phone and cable in Oklahoma.  I spent about an hour and a half online trying to set up our service before giving up and letting Husband deal with it. Twenty minutes later, he called back with our new telephone number. I should probably mention that a big part of the reason it took me so long was because I was trying to e-mail him to ask him what he wanted on this or that. He was in a class and couldn’t answer, right away. I then had to call them back to make sure they add my name to the listing.

I also called several post offices in Oklahoma trying to get our mail forwarded. I managed to get our mail scheduled to start being forwarded to Oklahoma City on a date certain in December but unless I do something, it is going to end up in an endless loop because we have mail currently being forwarded here from the Oklahoma City house. I will go talk to Freddy at our local post office and I am sure he will get it all squared away. I love Freddy. He is from Liberia and speaks flawless English with a cute accent. We will miss him when we leave. He says my husband, “has all the best hats.” He is a devout Christian and constantly proselytizes from behind the post office counter but with a sweet, sweet manner. Since he keeps doing it, I suppose no one has complained. He is really good hearted. Our local post office is tiny and there is rarely a line. There is a similar tiny one near our Oklahoma City house. In fact, they close for lunch.

We also had workmen here rebuilding some windowsills and painting and that was a distraction.

I also finished up a block, the second since the last time I posted. Here they are:

Here are all the blocks, to date:

I went outside with the girls for awhile and enjoyed the last little bit of color in the leaves:

I have such a good time with Evelyn and Pearl. Evelyn has her big bear-like face and Pearl is just such a puppy.

So that is why not much packing took place, today.

Happy Quilting,

Penny, Evelyn and Pearl