Becoming Alabamians

After all the waiting, we are here. We are Alabamians! The ride down last Friday was uneventful. Pat had the two beasts in her car. They meowed for awhile, then rode pretty quietly most of the way. Of course they were traumatized. They are now experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They huddle up in our only closet and don't come out for hours at a time. They're not used to hearing footsteps right outside our door. We stopped twice on the way down to let them use the litter box, once at my mother's house in Louisville, and once in the parking lot of a Korean Presbyterian Church in Nashville (where about 40 yards away a deer ate bark off of a tree).

We got our Alabama drivers licenses today. We had to show a birth certificate and a social security card. We're still waiting to get our AL license plates; the line was about two hours long today, so we'll go back another time. Our car insurance when up about 50%; I guess Alabama drivers are more reckless than Ohio drivers.

The gas stove in our little apartment was not turned on when we got here, even though I had called the gas company and they had started our billing account. So, we had to call again to get the gas man back out to unseal the meter. Then the maintenance man for our apartment complex (Michael) had to come and replace parts on the stove before all the burners would light. The other maintenance man (Daniel) came to replace an electrical outlet, repair a shelf in the kitchen, and work on the sink.

We are sleeping on an Aerobed and have four foldup chairs in the living room. Our small TV gets a digital signal, but it breaks up frequently. The cell phone signal is very weak inside the apartment. Primitive living. I keep thinking I'm at a continuing education conference since we hear people outside our room going up and down steps. We will be so grateful to see some bits of furniture and boxes of stuff come this Friday. It will certainly be crowded, having only a living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and one closet—though we are squeezing some things into the HVAC room where the furnace/AC is located.

Did I mention that they are putting new windows into all the units, and right outside our kitchen and bedroom windows they are using saws and other equipment every day? Thankfully this is only temporary—maybe seven months, maybe more.

The good news is that we are only three blocks away from our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter! When we used to say, "We've got to go home now," that meant a 10 hour drive. Now it means a ten minute walk.

I hope my neck doesn't get red.