Okay, it's almost 2014 but I want to mention 2012 because I didn't post anything that year. It all really started in the latter months of 2010, when Fru switched jobs and moved to New Orleans . . . At that time I was still teaching at the University, (in Miami-Dade County) and we had our house in Fort Lauderdale. I get a little confused, but anyway. Second Daughter was in her senior year at the high school and we didn't want to take that away from her by moving the family at the time and (as I said) I was still teaching and was basically contracted to teach Creative Writing classes through the spring semester. So, off Fru went to her new job, securing her a condo on Camp Street in the CBD where she could walk to work. First Daughter was, I don't know, back from a disastrous semester at FSU but was preparing to return after the new year . . . So, we got through the rest of 2010, then into 2011 with Fru in New Orleans, First Daughter in Tallahassee and Second Daughter and I in Fort Lauderdale. Many many visits to New Orleans were made and we were all excited to move there, despite the many great things about our home in South Florida. But then the bank where Fru worked got sold--merger!--and then it was uncertain if she would be kept on. Then it was another bad semester for First Daughter and she went to live with Fru in the Crescent City while Second Daughter and I stayed put (because employment and everything else was up in the air). This situation lasted until September of 2011, then Fru and daughter finally came back to Fort Lauderdale where, very quickly a new job was secured and we had plans to move back to the midwest. Well. We put the house up for sale and it sold much quicker than we anticipated and we had no house yet in the new place (new place was in the midwest and shall not be named) (at least not yet) and so Fru went on up to start work, (First Daughter eventually joined her, just before the new year)--staying in an apartment paid for the her employer while she looked for a house. Meanwhile, Second Daughter had started college (at FSU) so I did the prep work for the movers and was the last one in the house--that was January 7th, 2012.
Yes, 2012.
2012--the year some said that world would come to an end... Well, that year I had no house, had a carful of belongings, had two older cats and a 45lb dog. I couldn't quite move to the New Place in the Midwest with Fru and First Daughter because no pets were allowed in the place being paid for by her employer. Plus, I really didn't want to go. Had dreams of not even going, to be honest. Anyway, I stayed at Billy's across the street for a while--which was too sad and my dog could not figure out why we didn't cross the street and go home. So I hit the road and drove to Jacksonville--to Neptune Beach to be precise and I stayed three days with Bill. That was okay but also was not. Bill was great but he had a roommate and it was small and it wasn't conducive for two cats a dog and his semi-feral cat. But, I then called and re-rented the same condo in New Orleans, which allowed pets, which these pets had spent time in (the animals, as you can imagine, were quite confused and upset). Much more than all this, but I'm trying to be quick here . . . Anyway, the day I was driving up to Jax my brother called and said my mother was in the hospital. I was in flux and said I'd get up there (Des Moines, Iowa) if I had to but for now she was okay (though she wasn't). So, after three days there I moved to New Orleans, stopping in Tallahassee to visit Second Daughter. By then all the animals were infested with fleas. So a vet in Tallahassee sold me some of those flea kill-off pills and, when I got to New Orleans and single-handedly moved all the crap from the car into the condo at about eight or nine at night, I administered the flea kill-off pills which did indeed kill off the fleas--right on the condo bed. That was okay ....
This is 2012.
I'll try to keep this short but obviously I'm not. Anyway.... My very good friend from Montreal, Francis, decided to come visit me in New Orleans. I also already had a very good friend--Mike--who lived in town. Things were good, in that sense. Though the condo was small and I had two cats and a dog, now a French Quebecer would be added to the mix (there was a pullout couch in the front room). But he was going to help me drive up to the New Place even though I didn't really want to go. Well--then my brother calls and my mom has taken a turn for the worse and I need to get up there. So, I leave Francis in New Orleans to take care of my animals while I fly to Des Moines to see my mother who, essentially, going to die. She didn't. I was there a week, but she was to be placed in a hospice. So. I had animals and a friend and no home, no family... Blah...and going to have to move to a place I abhorred. yes. Abhorred.!!!
Okay, 2012.
Let me be more succinct. Had to move away. Spent the first few months sort of homeless with 3 animals while my mother became terminally ill. Was used to warm South Florida and was moving to icy midwest town. Then got up there and had to stay in a furniture-less condo for over a month while the house Fru chose was moved out of and then worked on a bit. All the while I was going back and forth to Des Moines to visit my mother. And in 2012 my mother died. And then, a month or so later, Bill from Neptune Beach died. Yes, I said died.
2012: My mother died. My good friend from Montana days and more, Bill, died. I moved to a town I don't care for. I don't know. I wasn't good. So, I wrote nothing. Nothing . . . Is that succinct enough?
Yes, 2012.
2012--the year some said that world would come to an end... Well, that year I had no house, had a carful of belongings, had two older cats and a 45lb dog. I couldn't quite move to the New Place in the Midwest with Fru and First Daughter because no pets were allowed in the place being paid for by her employer. Plus, I really didn't want to go. Had dreams of not even going, to be honest. Anyway, I stayed at Billy's across the street for a while--which was too sad and my dog could not figure out why we didn't cross the street and go home. So I hit the road and drove to Jacksonville--to Neptune Beach to be precise and I stayed three days with Bill. That was okay but also was not. Bill was great but he had a roommate and it was small and it wasn't conducive for two cats a dog and his semi-feral cat. But, I then called and re-rented the same condo in New Orleans, which allowed pets, which these pets had spent time in (the animals, as you can imagine, were quite confused and upset). Much more than all this, but I'm trying to be quick here . . . Anyway, the day I was driving up to Jax my brother called and said my mother was in the hospital. I was in flux and said I'd get up there (Des Moines, Iowa) if I had to but for now she was okay (though she wasn't). So, after three days there I moved to New Orleans, stopping in Tallahassee to visit Second Daughter. By then all the animals were infested with fleas. So a vet in Tallahassee sold me some of those flea kill-off pills and, when I got to New Orleans and single-handedly moved all the crap from the car into the condo at about eight or nine at night, I administered the flea kill-off pills which did indeed kill off the fleas--right on the condo bed. That was okay ....
This is 2012.
I'll try to keep this short but obviously I'm not. Anyway.... My very good friend from Montreal, Francis, decided to come visit me in New Orleans. I also already had a very good friend--Mike--who lived in town. Things were good, in that sense. Though the condo was small and I had two cats and a dog, now a French Quebecer would be added to the mix (there was a pullout couch in the front room). But he was going to help me drive up to the New Place even though I didn't really want to go. Well--then my brother calls and my mom has taken a turn for the worse and I need to get up there. So, I leave Francis in New Orleans to take care of my animals while I fly to Des Moines to see my mother who, essentially, going to die. She didn't. I was there a week, but she was to be placed in a hospice. So. I had animals and a friend and no home, no family... Blah...and going to have to move to a place I abhorred. yes. Abhorred.!!!
Okay, 2012.
Let me be more succinct. Had to move away. Spent the first few months sort of homeless with 3 animals while my mother became terminally ill. Was used to warm South Florida and was moving to icy midwest town. Then got up there and had to stay in a furniture-less condo for over a month while the house Fru chose was moved out of and then worked on a bit. All the while I was going back and forth to Des Moines to visit my mother. And in 2012 my mother died. And then, a month or so later, Bill from Neptune Beach died. Yes, I said died.
2012: My mother died. My good friend from Montana days and more, Bill, died. I moved to a town I don't care for. I don't know. I wasn't good. So, I wrote nothing. Nothing . . . Is that succinct enough?
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