There, then Here

June 16 2019

“There” was Austin. It’s a terrific city, full of life and energy. I had lived there almost ten years, in the same agreeable condo all that time. I had a life and network of friends and associations there, interesting and fulfilling. I thought it was the last place for me. I did not intend to partake of the adventure of relocating to another place. But daughter Sarah and husband Scott, who lived near there, very much wanted to relocate. And they wanted me to come along.

When our mother was well along into needing care, it was difficult for S & S who lived in Texas, my brother who lived in Cambridge, and me in the various places I lived, to attend to her. So she had to go into an assisted living facility, and afterwards to a nursing home. It was all deeply difficult and unsatisfactory, a sad arrival at the end for her, and an easy excuse for us to think that it should have been otherwise.

For my part, I wanted to make it easy for S & S to deal with this aging parent. So I agreed to the make the move with them to wherever. It will be easier for them to keep an eye on me if I’m right there. Fortunately we all like each other.

The relocating process started last October and the physical act of getting there took about six months, landing in April of this year. And so “there” is now “here”, that is to say, Eugene Oregon. The story of how it all came about would take too much time and energy to recount. The most involved component of the move was getting two dogs and five cats two thousand miles from Texas to Oregon. Never again I fervently hope.

“Here” is Oregon. It’s beautiful here, and the social climate is closer to our own. “Here” is Eugene. We just got here, and so far its hard to know what kind of place it is. We have a very satisfactory house with a big yard and big big trees and flowering things of all sorts. Now there is settling in, and its time to begin reconstructing an interesting and fulfilling life. We’ll see how it goes.