I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
There’s No Place Like Home
JJ and my packing came to an abrupt stop until the middle of last week when I got sick. I think I probably caught EJ’s respiratory infection when he came home the weekend before. I think catching his infection was a small price to pay for having him home for the weekend. Still, I have felt quite miserable with terrible congestion and cough. And during last night, I lost my voice which makes it hard to communicate.
EJ came home again this weekend. He gets out of work at 3 a.m. and he left immediately for home, getting here about 8:30 a.m. It is always wonderful to have him home but we miss each other so much that it’s getting more difficult to let him leave. JJ’s birthday was Saturday. We let him choose a gift from Amazon and got take out pizza from Little Caesars. None of us were feeling well, but we didn’t want to skip JJ’s birthday. It all seemed kind of pathetic though. But we told JJ that when we get to the Emerald City, we will buy celebrate more thoroughly.
We are anxious to find a house so that we can join EJ. Besides missing each other terribly, living apart is expensive and we don’t want to fritter away our savings. It doesn’t help that EJ’s old company canceled our insurance the day he left, instead of paying the insurance to the end of the month in which he quit, which they have always done before. EJ has work hard and faithfully at the company for 17 years and it just seems especially nasty that they did this to him. It will cost us more than $1,000 extra to pay for COBRA for the extra month because they did this. EJ is actually considering looking into whether it’s legal for them to do this. If it’s not, he might file a complaint. Doing such things is not our usually style (as in, we never make a fuss) but the company is so terrible to its employees that it might be worth pursuing. I tried to look at whether it’s legal on-line but I get different answers. We do know that if the employee handbook states that they pay for insurance coverage until the end of the month, we do have basis for a complaint. We are rather disgusted with the company.
By the way, he is really enjoying the new company. EJ says this appears to be the best company he has ever worked for.
Anyway, EJ, JJ and I are anxious to be together in the Emerald City and he is anxious for us to join him too. We keep looking and looking for houses but none is exactly right. We keep wondering which of our “requirements” we can compromise on, but we really can’t bear to have neighbors who are too close, or to have too little land, or to have a house that is too far away, or that requires too much work, or is too expensive, or some other thing that makes it unacceptable. It’s not all just “want.” A house that is too far away will take longer to drive, put more wear and tear on the vehicles, be expensive if gas goes up, and will take JJ away from the college activities and friendships. Living in a town or on too little land means EJ and I sacrifice our dream of having space. After living in town for so many years, the thought of having neighbors too close makes me feel claustrophobic. And EJ hasn’t been happy living in town. And so on.
The house that seems to best suits are needs is the one in the Enchanted Forest. It has five acres near beautiful nature areas. It’s not terribly far from the Emerald City and is quite near a town that is large enough so JJ could easily get a job and we could get groceries. It’s practically perfect. EJ said he saw nothing about the house that caused him concern except that it’s a manufactured house that was built in the 80’s. He thinks that it’s a bit too old. In 20 years, it will be a 50-year-old manufactured house and it’s value will probably have decreased. He says that a good quality manufactured house might not be as good quality as a house manufactured later. I, also, would prefer a regular site-built house, but I think most of them are out of reach financially–or have too little land, etc. EJ’s co-workers tell him that there are a lot of manufactured houses near the Emerald City. So do we risk this one or risk being apart longer and maybe frittering away our money on motel rooms, which will get more expensive when tourist season hits?
Sigh.
EJ and I have to decide what to do soon, but it’s really difficult to know what to do.
Maybe I should click my heels together three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home…” It worked for Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
I Love To Go A Gardening 
I do hope your illness will soon be over Teri and I also hope you will find the right house. It is always difficult to choose and there will be always things that are less perfect than you hope for. But I’m sure the right one will come up soon. Wishing JJ happy birthday 🙂 Love you all ❤
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Happy late birthday JJ, where does the time go, seems like just yesterday you were the little boy in Bob’s chair,thank God for memories. Teri praying that things will connect soon for all of you. Love ya, Linda
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