Minnesota in January

 There is a reason we are leaving our new home in Minneapolis for almost three months: my husband hates the cold. 




That is understandable. He had to drive in it for the 30-odd years we lived in Michigan, going from one house to another every day of the winter for piano tuning or playing gigs or trumpet lessons or choir rehearsals. He’s had to shovel sidewalks and driveways, repair burst pipes, and suffer from SADD. Now that he’s retired, he exults in the freedom to simply pick up and go to the warm, sunny Southwest. 



To be honest, I am not as excited as he is, perhaps because our home is so cozy, filled with books and music, close to our son’s family and our church—so exactly right for us. I like sitting in my reading chair, watching the wind swirl and toss the snow, seeing it pile up in drifts. The smoke curls up from our neighbor’s chimney; cars crunch by on the unplowed street. I make myself another cup of tea and snuggle under the quilt. Our little house is full of light, with big windows. There is always something to watch going on outside.


Tomorrow we leave, DV. If the snow stops. If there’s not “weather” along I-35. If the frozen parts of the trailer hitch work. We’ll see. The snow is supposed to stop by midnight.

So today is laundry, packing, and cleaning. All the Christmas decorations are put away, and the tree lies, denuded, waiting for the fire pit.


Most of the food is in the trailer already. I hope it doesn’t freeze (milk, eggs, etc.) I’ll update you on the folly of my packing early when we find out in a day or two. Boxes of canned goods wait to be loaded.


Theoretically, all that will be left to do tomorrow is to launder sheets and remake the beds (we are leaving the house guest-ready for anyone who needs to use it as a stopover in their travels, including my sister Ruth’s family near Duluth). 

So…back to folding laundry, packing suitcases, cleaning cupboards, sweeping floors. Tomorrow we depart!




Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 9, 2022 at 6:06 PM

    Your job reminded me of mine, Phil, going from home to home. It's a lovely feeling of freedom to be released from that. What adventures await you around the bend. Thanks for sharing them with us

    ReplyDelete

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