As I watched the leaves raining down in the forest behind my son and daughter-in-law’s home in Fairfax, VA, I saw two red foxes frolicking and enjoying the Fall weather. Happily, I had flown in a day ahead of the bad weather, that hit the whole Country, two days before Thanksgiving.
Finally, I had time for contemplation and a badly needed rest, and some fun.

As most of you know, on October 25th my house went on the market at 2 p.m. and on October 26th, at noon, the realtor called and said, “Your house sold at full price!” On November 1st, I took possession of my apartment in the Senior Residence, HACIENDA AT THE CANYON, and I moved the last of my furniture and boxes in on November 12th.

By that time, I felt like the kid in “ The Exorcist.” My head was spinning. Only my wonderful friends Mimi and Yvonne made it bearable. Mimi is ex Navy and knows how to keep things moving and in ship shape, and she is a technology whiz kid. Yvonne can build shelves and go through boxes faster than a Road Runner chasing a lizard.

Besides, the stress of the move, I also managed to damage my 79,000 mile, 14 year old, without- a dent-or-scratch-for-14 years—Saturn. It really wasn’t all my fault! I had reasoned (which was my first mistake) that I could drive an alternate route around my apartment building to get to the front lobby. However, I discovered that sometimes you just can’t get to the other side.

So, I was driving down the street, past a covered parking area, and suddenly found myself on a small brick road. Where is Dorothy when you need her? However, there was a big pit with gas lines right in my path. Consequently, I had the choice of hitting the gas lines and blowing up the joint (which has been under construction for 21/2 years, and isn’t quite finished yet) or scraping the side of my little car on a wall. So, scrape I did as workers ran out of the building and stared and pointed before they backed my car back out of the tight place—avoiding gas line catastrophe.

I thanked them in Spanish and was happy that no one fell to his knees to beg me not to speak his language.  I did however ask (in English) “Why isn’t there  a construction zone barrier and/or sign to inform people not to drive here?  The answer was, “Someone moved it!”

Okay, so while I was enjoying a week with my kids (Yes, my daughter-in-law is now one of my kids) my car was having a $500 cosmetic makeover. Not so bad.  I recently saw a commercial that a Nintendo game only costs $300. So, that is an argument for birth control, but I digress.

The bottom line is that life happens…the good, the bad and the not so pretty.  I have chosen to move on and am happy that I have done so.  I love my new apartment, and enjoy meeting all of the nice people who are also moving in. All of us had beautiful homes that we had to sell, and we are in the same boat.  The only problem is remembering all of those names!
I write them down. That helps unless you put the name with the wrong face—every time.

So it goes.  I wish all of you a Happy Holiday Season. “May the sun shine on your face and the wind be at your back.” unless you are taking a shower.

Esther Blumenfeld