Closing The Door

There comes a time when you just have to get something done. It may not be either pleasant or convenient, but it very well may be the right thing to do. I am always on the lookout for that. Well, it's a good thing I was on the lookout for it, because I found it.

How so? Let me explain...

Just a week ago, I completed a very long trip to deliver the remaining property and the pets to Sandy. I drove for a full 24 hours and covered ~1500 miles in a rental truck. I packed, drove and unpacked at her home in the space of four days... two of these (roughly) were spent driving.

Given the situation with Sandy, there was a period of time when I questioned whether or not I should actually make this trip. Indeed, she was the first to point out that she did not want me to "make the trip for her or do it for her". She was still a little bit ticked (okay, she was still upset!) about the incident with the text message.

Still, I knew that making the trip to deliver the pets and her goods to her was the right thing to do. I was not going to stand around and pretend that it wasn't the right thing to do and leave these as reminders of what had gone wrong and is another incompletion yet to be dealt with in the future. I felt that it was important to bring a close this right now, not some far-off day in the future when it was convenient for either of us.

So I told her that I was going to make this trip. It didn't matter who was for but I'd already gone too far to arrange for the truck, pack additional belongings and make arrangements for pickup and drop-off. Too much stuff had been started to turn back now. I needed to see this through. If I wasn't going to do it for her, I would do it for me. I would also do it for the sanity and the proper care of our pets. There's more involved here than just what she or I want.

I am not going to go into the details of the trip. In a certain sense, it was a surreal experience. There was so much activity in such a short period of time, I look back on it with amazement at the airport as I was finally boarding the plane to return home. I found it hard to believe that I had just completed this and was now getting ready to go back to the house that was fully mine and free of any belongings that she wanted.

When I first got there and dropped off the pets, Sandy did not say much to me. In fact, she was quite distant. I focus on getting them out of the truck, into the house and paying attention to their immediate care/needs. The following morning I returned to her house and began the process of unloading the stuff from the truck. That whole process went really quickly and I was done by mid-morning. At that point, I decided to go back to the hotel to clean up and get ready to return the truck to the rental place. From there, the plan was to go to the airport.

The time I spent with Sandy was a bit awkward. It was good to see her and not good at the same time. we kept things at a pretty high level and that was probably for the best. My single attempt at being able to address the issues that were off didn't go very well. I decided that it was better to leave it alone and deal with the lawyer then attempt to wade in and make things worse. I guess, in some small way, I am getting smarter with age! :-)

It wasn't until we were actually departing for the airport that Sandy actually took the opportunity to offer her thanks for my doing this. I wanted to hear it and was pleased to hear it, but I certainly wasn't going to expected from her. If that was beyond what she was able to do at the time, I would have all the room in the world for her to not have to say it and have that be okay with me. Still, given what it took, it was great to hear her say that.

The trip was actually quite quick and fairly straightforward. It pretty much met all of my expectations and plans. It was also quite costly. In the end, the cost and interruption to my life was insignificant compared to what was gained from it. In fact, I think that it was a real bargain. Kate picked me up at the airport that night and we went home together.

I am glad I did this and I am also glad that it's done. I don't want to do that again any time soon.

Moving sucks! LOL