Leaving Pueblo
So many things needed to fall into place quickly. Pay attention here to how doors opened and how the future became undergirded by what some would call... "happenstance". Many have called me "lucky" but I have not always been "lucky", nor do I believe much in it. There is a flow to life. People have all kinds of names for it... but it has always been known to me as GOD's will. Step into that stream and regardless of perils and risks.... adventure awaits.
“Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
“For they will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit." Jeremiah 17: 7-8
I tendered my resignation much to the surprise of my principal and assistant principals. (That they were surprised should tell you something). The Pueblo house needed to be either sold or rented. A place to live near the school in Idaho needed to be procured. And somehow I would have to be able to get my meager belongings to Priest River Idaho. I had 4 months. This is where the sweat of fervent prayer holds power.
Within those four months, I learned that my first grandchild was pregnant with my first great grandchild. She lives in Idaho. I also made more trips back to see my ex-husband who through a series of decisions and because of his stubborn persistence, had survived a deadly stroke and was now in a rehab facility. Sometimes our greatest weaknesses are also our greatest strengths. I would be closer to him, and could easily make extended weekend visits to encourage his healing. My oldest son's oldest son was approaching graduation within a couple years... they would be a quick trip away and I would be able to visit more often
I put the house on Marketplace and was quickly contacted by a realtor who had a client needing to rent a small house for a year while she was having a permanent home built. She had all the funding up front. I started shopping for a truck to buy so I could haul my belongings and my animals out to the inland northwest. I really liked the Subaru Baja and began shopping and test driving them in earnest, sometimes dragging my sister along for the ride. Ironically, I found one in Portland Oregon and had it sent out to me, thanks to my mother. (That's another story). I contacted a neighbor of my Idaho daughter about renting her small cabin that was about 48 miles from the new school. I figured I could drive that far for a while, I'd done it before. Instead, she suggested, I could rent another place of hers that she had much closer to the community of Priest River. I was dumbfounded. The rent was reasonable and I could look for a more permanent place to live while staying there. Like a Tetris game, the blocks just kept dropping into place. This was meant to be. More confirmation would come in time, but for now, I was ecstatic. I was headed to a position that I seemed made for. I would be near my daughter and 5 of my 7 grandkids. Closer to one of my sons and 2 other grands. I could work my way into retirement while hopefully making a small difference in a rural school.
Thank you GOD
Oddly enough, now that I was leaving, something shifted with the kids and things seemed easier in the classroom, dearer somehow. One of my toughest students would say to me, on the last day of school..."You are the coolest teacher here!". I bet she says that to all her teachers, and I know it is not true.... but it warmed my heart. Nevertheless, I do now look fondly back on pictures of those kids... wondering how they are doing now? Have their struggles lessened? Who was successful and who could not overcome their intense barriers to the good life? Who graduated? Who went on? Who gave in to the gang life and who already has a child.... Bless them. Those tough, broken, funny, beautiful 7th graders.
There are so many stories in between the lines. Someday, perhaps I will fill in the blanks and tell those tales in deeper narrative. Now is not the time.
I sell things off. Organize. Move some things to my sister's house for storage. Who knows... I may return someday?
I want my sister to come with me for this move. We have to arrange care for my mother, who is not pleased with the thought of being left in the company of someone she doesn't know, but we proceed in spite of mother's slightly selfish protestations. My sister has not left her side for almost 10 years.
I say goodbye to some dear friends.
Tie up loose ends. Make financial arrangements. Map out a slow path to Idaho. Three days we will take. Up I 25... through thunderstorms and wind that will rip and shred he tarp from the goods it protects. My sister and I will have to tie it down in a thrashing downpour, then find a new tarp and spend the night somewhere in Wyoming. We cross the Montana border the next day driving through and past the Crow and Cheyenne reservations and battlefields as I 25 morphs into I 90 where hills turn into mountains and the Continental Divide is ahead of us. We take our rest at dusk in Missoula.
Until at last, we cross the divide and climb up 4th of July Pass and into Idaho. Back to 7B.
That final day of travel is kind of a blur to me. The animals were ready to be out of the car and I was ready to begin the task of settling. After a grocery stop we head to the cabin I will be renting in the short term until I can find a house to buy. Ironically... the cabin is in Washington just across the river from where I live now.... but that story is yet to be told. It is a cute little place that's has both charms and quirks. My sister is delighted with this little place until we have to figure out how to utilize the incinerator toilet or use the outhouse.
FURTHER ON UP... FURTHER ON IN...
Comments
Post a Comment