I’m going back to Michigan tomorrow. I spent about a month at the condo after Ruth’s death last September. This time I’m there for several months alone. That’s new territory for me. I wouldn’t be heading back now, but we’re awarding the first Tebo Family Scholarship on Wednesday in Addison. I follow that up with an appearance at Adrian College on the 7th. We’ll be part of a few hundred scholarships awarded that day.
Our Michigan condo is twice as large as our Florida home. There’s a lot of space, but not as many memories as there would have been if we still lived at Lake LeAnn. It would be much tougher going back to the lake.
I’m packing very little to take North as we lived two lives and have two sets of stuff. I take long slacks back and forth and a couple of key light weight golf jackets. That’s about it.
I’ve got several takeaways from my time in The Villages. Reconnecting with my Village friends was extremely helpful. I made a few new ones, and I’m hoping to make more when I return.
As for Michigan, I have friends and family there, but no one lives close to me. I’m an hour and a half from David and his crew. I’ll take in as many of Eva’s track meets as possible, but that season’s drawing to an end. I’ll make the trip down to play poker with the guys in the Irish Hills, but if they stay on their current rotation, I’ll play once in May and not at all in June.
When I get back to the condo, I’ll start attending to the things I did in Florida. I’m not looking forward to going through Ruth’s clothes, but it has to be done. I took it in phases while in Florida and I’ll take that approach in Michigan. The trouble is there’s more in Michigan to sort through.
My personal life is a bit different now. I bought hearing aids and have been wearing them for a couple of months. I don’t wear them all the time, just when I know they’ll help. They’re more for clarity than volume. At least that’s what the hearing aid tech said. I’ve noticed the greatest difference when I watch TV or speak with my soft-spoken friends. No one has commented, so either they haven’t noticed or they’re just being polite.
I met with my doctor last week and he gave me a clean bill of health. We met last in November and not much has changed since them. He asked if I had any concerns and that’s when I told him about my left shoulder. I’m bone on bone and four different Orthopedic surgeons have advised me to have a shoulder replacement. I’ve declined and now I’m even more skeptical. You need a lot of help when you get replacement parts, and my helper’s gone.
The last time I sought advice was four years ago, so I wondered if anything new had developed. He asked me if I’d ever had an injection, and I told him yes. My first was about thirty years ago. That did the trick for about ten years. I went to a new doctor because the old one died, and he did a series of injections every other year for the next fifteen years. And then they just stopped working.
My Florida doctor can give the injections himself as there’s no specialist required. He did, and so far, so good. The pain’s not completely gone but it’s much improved. I’ll take improved. Nothing on my body if perfect so I’ll continue to go with the flow.
As I was readying the house for departure, I decided to make a few changes. Ruth spent a lot of her Florida time painting. She tried different mediums. I’m not sure of the artistic terms, but I know she dabbled in watercolor, acrylic, oils, sponge, and pour painting. Pour painting is just that. You pour paint and move it around by blowing through a straw or tilting the canvas. Our daughter-in-law, Kate, introduced her to the technique. The resulting picture is very attractive. We’ve got several examples in our house and Ruth gave a few to some of our Florida friends.
Ruth stored some of her less accomplished works. I dug a few out and placed them on the top shelf of our bedroom closet. It’s pretty bare since I packed up her clothes. I like the display.
The morning after I assembled her artwork, I was looking for a picture on my computer. I found something new during my search. There were about twenty photos of Ruth’s artwork that hadn’t been there before. I saw them again yesterday and decided to incorporate my discovery into this story. I went back this morning to get an accurate count for this tale, and they’re gone.
Lesser men would be concerned, but I know it’s just Ruth being Ruth.