Memories contained in stuff

So it has started. What hopefully will be the final dispersal of our stuff. We have boxes for trash--did we really haul 3 boxes of just trash stuff around since 2009?? There is a shred / burn destroy all "evidence of" box. There is only one of those--may be because we still have some papers we think are important? And we have the box of "shouldn't we keep this" stuff. Papers from our hound dogs adoptions, marriage, diviorce, and some school papers from 1995 that for some reason seem important.
Then we have the chotzky boxes. Those items we hold on too for so long we forget we had them. The salt and peper shakers my grandmother had. The shakers that look like pheasants, ducks and other assorted animals. Old bumper stickers of radio stations now gone and forgotten. The original sales receipt for my "THIS END UP" corner shelf unit I bought in 1983. I still have the shelf, as well as a file cabinet and the large bookcase. All made from Carolina pine. We have boxes of trinkets we had at one time set out around the house.
Mary found several CD-roms that had some great stuff. One had a lot of genealogical stuff related to my great-grandmother, a full blood Cherokee and her people--HIGHTOWER. Another CD had 600 pictures we had downloaded off the computers before we left Michigan. On ot are pictures of our house when we first moved in. Then the interior after we had lived in it 3 months and ripped the walls, flooring, plumbing and electrical out. We lived in it while we were renovating the entire house. We literally removed 5 walls and eliminated 3 rooms. When we were finished all we had left on the main floor was a bathroom and wide open space from the kitchen to the livingroom. We had to add 3 lam-beams where we tookout support walls--one beam was 24 foot across and supported the entire upstairs!
Then there were pictures of our dogs. Kramer (2004) and Lola (2006)came along when we thought the restored Craftsman house was our forever home. As we looked through the recently discovered pictures, we found pictures of our first rescue dog--Darla. She was a Australian Shepherd-Husky mix. We had seen another dog on the adopt a pet segment of the morning news and Mary wanted to see if "Jake" was still available. As it happened, so did 20 other people. I guess people want to adopt the dog that was on televison so they can tell all their friends? Anyways, we saw Darla and that was all she wrote. 8 months later Darla was taken sick and died. 3 months later the contaminated dog food story broke. We had been feeding her Iams diet--which was number one on the list of contaminated food...
But I suppose that is why pictures are important. The one regret I have related to my TransAmerica bicycle trip is that I didn't take a camera. Perhaps the thing to do is track down the other 11 riders and see what pictures they have. It would be a great excuse for a reunion huh?
One of the last pictures on the CD is of Mary and me with my siblings and their wives and kids taken with my mom at Yogi Bear at Lake Barton Indiana.
That was the year before she passed and the last time we were all together.
There is stuff we just cannot afford to lose.

Just like the road, our Possibilities are endless

June 23, 2011

Not having a schedule is weird feeling. Being able to sleep in, sit at the table and just look out the window, or watching the rain while deciding what you feel like doing, can be very terrifying. Some have said that responsibility is what drives a person to work. The lack of responsibility is what prevents a person from applying themselves to work. Now there may be some truths to this, as the greatest fear people seem to have is dying shortly after retirement. People, who spend large amounts of time in one setting, suddenly panic when they are turned out and exposed to a new environment without any structure—prisoners being released after years of incarceration, employees stepping into retirement. The same may apply to those who worked full-time going back into the home to care for a loved one.
If we do not have something or someone to be responsible for, we quickly begin to withdraw from our environment and avoid personal interactions which eventually lead us to be reclusive and depressed. Transitioning to full-time can create similar anxiety; particularly when such isn’t necessarily a complimentary move into retirement.
I felt the same back in 1981-1982 as I prepared for the TransAmerica Bicycle Tour (TAE 517). Long distance bicycle riding is pretty much a solitary act. It can be difficult to find other riders who look forward to 100 mile rides on a Saturday morning, unless you belong to a club. Then the folks in clubs tend to be speed riders and have a time frame in which to complete each segment of the ride. I rode primarily for distance, not speed. I did however try to maintain a 10-15 mph average for my rides. Initially I had no schedule or route for my rides. I had a general idea where I wanted to go, but sometimes I would ride 50 miles straight out from the starting point and 50 miles back, other times I would ride a circular route winding my way back to the beginning.
I took me awhile to grow comfortable with aimless wandering. By the time I left Williamsburg, Virginia in 1982, I was right at home with unstructured schedules.
I forget how great it feels to have no task master. Being able to set a destination based on route, events, or just to see something is very exciting. If it rains today, that’s ok, because we can just go tomorrow. If we need an extra hour because the attraction doesn’t open until 10:00 A.M. we can wait. The only obligation we are willing to accept will be for our own employment—setting up web sites, blogging, or photographing scenes for resale / publication. I suppose what we really want is the right to be flexible and ignore any and all time restraints in our lives ASAP!

Tim and Mary
On the road in Michigan