Two Weeks

The sale of Sunnyhill should close on 6/11, two weeks from today.  If things go as planned we’ll be at the closing in Oneonta in the morning and hit the road in the afternoon, going only as far as Erie, PA that first day.  Since it will be our first day on the road with Hazel, I wanted a short driving day.  We’ll be a little caravan, Jay and Charlie in the pickup pulling a cargo trailer, and me and Hazel in the Prius.  I’ve been getting Hazel used to being in her carrier, but as soon as the car starts moving she starts complaining.  If she doesn’t settle down once we’re cruising, I may resort to a drop of sedative – for her, not for me.

Our lawyer for the closing is Steve Feuer, a friend from Temple Beth El. In the TBE Shofar (the newsletter) today, there was an announcement that at the annual meeting there will be a vote on a change to the bylaws regarding the status of non-Jewish partners. This was one of the big issues the planning committee I had pulled together in 2018 failed to move on.  Although many on the committee supported making the non-Jewish partners full members, the Board refused to consider it.  For Jay and me, this was a fundamental issue, and a big part of why we decided to leave TBE. I’m pleased to see that they’re considering full membership now, and along with the departure of the Rabbi (mysteriously, a year before his contract was up), it creates the possibility that we’ll find a home at TBE again when we return to Cooperstown.  It feels good to leave with that possibility open.

That planning committee was one of the three bits of work I did during our three and a half years here.  The other two bits were with the League of Women Voters: getting people to complete the 2020 census, and getting out the vote for the 2020 election.  Each of those small efforts brought me friends and a feeling of belonging and contributing to a community.  We have settled into this community in many ways – making friends, supporting institutions and businesses, using facilities (especially the fabulous sports center). Most of all, we have loved living here. Even though three and a half years is a small piece in the life of the 72 year olds we are now, it feels like an important piece. 

I sit here on a chilly, rainy afternoon, looking out the big west facing window, listening to the tink of pellets in the stove (which hasn’t been on for days during a stretch of warm weather), watching the heron fly from the marsh to the pond, watching the wind ruffle the grass and the white headed dandelions. The beauty and peace of this place have settled into my soul, slowing me, filling me, bringing back to the surface the grass loving girl I was in Amenia summers, able to lie for hours in the grass doing nothing more than watching clouds and listening to birds.  I have found such pleasure here just watching, watching the moon and stars and planets, watching the seasons shift day by day, watching the geese and crows and bobolinks, watching wind and snow, watching lightning and rain, watching mist on the pond, watching the water freeze and thaw.  Privilege – I could not have more of it. 

There’s the holiday weekend with Tamar and Ryder to look forward to, there’s a little more packing to do, accounts to close, address changes to make.  Our time here is winding down. Two weeks, and then the adventure of the drive across the country, settling in to the RV in Pleasant Hill until the house is vacant, and then moving in to 2057 Hoover Avenue for a couple of years. One door closes, another opens.