Almost all packed up and nowhere to go

If it there was ever a JOINT POP song I thoroughly miss hearing whenever they play live is 'Nice Shirt'. I was addicted to that song. There was a line in it where Gary Hector would say rather casually  'Now I'm all dressed up and nowhere to go.'

Oh! how I loved that line. I always scream for that song whenever they gig out, but they don't perform it, they haven't since 1999. Ah! those were the days.

But now here, back on the home front, we're almost packed up our home, and now we can't move. Ha! isn't life funny. We're all packed up and nowhere to go.

We've sold our home of almost 50 years and bought another house. And we foolishly thought that after the previous owners had moved out, that we'd move right in. But we forgot to cater for renovations.

And now that our new home is empty, we see where we can change a few things and there are repairs needed, especially to the roof. That's the thing when buying a home, you always inherit the previously unattended repairs. That's just how it is in the real estate biz.

So here we are, almost packed up and unable to move for a bit till the new place is fixed up, might take a few months. And it's a bit overwhelming - renovations, all these unforeseen expenses when moving houses. It's definitely an experience. Perhaps we'll look back on all of this in a few months time and laugh.

But one thing has occurred to me since most of our belongings - clothes, bed sheets, cutlery and pots are packed up in boxes.

How much of this stuff do we really need to exist comfortably?

Probably not much.

October

This month feels like four months jammed into one. Many things are happening, too many at the same time.

I took on the gargantuan task of organizing my very first guitar concert with four other guitarists, and a young tenor. This will take place on Sunday, October 18th at Church of the Assumption. It was a monumental challenge, having to arrange so many aspects of the show, coordinate all the different people involved - lights, sound, bar, musicians. Then there was trying to get sponsorship which did not work out so well. Add to that trying to push ticket sales and I can honestly say that booking a gig is a piece of cake as compared to organizing a concert of your very own. It's going to be a good show, we've been rehearsing since August, but has it been a tiring and challenging experience.

Right after that, we move house, October 28th which also happens to the be the anniversary of my Dad's death. What a weird thing to say, what a strange thing to have to live with - someone's death. And packing up after living an entire life in this house is no easy task. But I am looking forward to building new memories in a new neighbourhood. There's some things you can't change, and the fact is that St. James has become a dump, a mechanics' haven and not a single government authority cares about the residents who are still living here enough to enforce the law or proper zoning. Welcome to Trinidad I guess.

Packing up, throwing out and unpacking is very time consuming, it's refreshing and sad at the same time. I'll be glad when November arrives.

I do have a little ray of sunshine, well, it's a big one actually. For the first time in five years, I've found someone. I'm in-love again and it's a great feeling, and she has come into my life at the right time, when all around me is change and chaos. She is my little piece of serenity and joy.

Peace and happiness in the midst of all these life changes is a good thing to have.

This story is unfolding as we all go along our merry little way.

Clearing the skeletons and giving them a name

So in light of us moving and selling (even though we don't know where we're going to), we've been sitting down and talking as a family about certain things in the past, this house, the neighbourhood and what it's deteriorated to and just everything that's happened over decades living here.

In airing out our fears about the sale, this house and our family history we finally came to an understanding - my Mom, my sis and I and it was a very good thing. Finally we understood what we each wanted from selling and moving, and finally after months of talking and debating, we had some level of peace of mind.

And it's ridiculous the stuff that we're finding that's not been used for decades, stuff that we're just giving away. It's amazing what one family can accumulate over 50 years.

We're the only family that ever lived in this house, built in 1966 and now we're leaving because our neighbourhood (St. James) became 'mechanics-ville' over a few years ago and now I have to haggle to get in and out of my driveway daily. And this country being how it is, appealing to the authorities to get proper zoning and help is like trying to get pork to taste like fish. Absolutely pointless.

So forget that idea, if you can't change your neighbours' way of thinking then you got to change your neighbourhood.

It has not been easy, this sale. For one we haven't found a house that we liked, after viewing ten properties for sale and rent. Then desperation set in on my part. Now, we're almost at the point where we've run out of time, the sale will close and we may have to rent back our own house but, in the space of one week, we made two offers on two separate houses. One we really like, the other one we were rejected in a bidding war.

The joke with the one we like is this -we can't afford it, we've offered way below the asking price.

So now is a time for a miracle.

But this entire process has been a very interesting one and a real test of faith and patience.