Just when I seriously began to count down the days & weeks to leaving
& felt comfortable telling my family when I'll be outta here---I get asked to do yet another house/pet-sitting gig.
This one is for my current employer & it involves 2 houses, 2 dogs, 1 cat & 1 bird & will only delay me another
week or 2 at the most, which puts me leaving at the end of June. I've agreed to do it because in the "Grand Scheme
of things"--meaning MY LIFE--what's a delay of a couple more weeks...???!!!
I have an anniversary date of July 15th that is fast approaching, this date will
mark 3 years since I arrived back in Florida--on 7/15/03. Truthfully,
the main reason was the obvious & unavoidable realization that my only child still needed to be parented & this was
my choice to return to do so, even though she was already 18 at the time & technically--legally responsible for herself.
Sometimes, our own wants, needs & desires simply have to take a backseat...for
a time.
We all know that life & especially people, don't necessarily progress & achieve either personal or developmental milestones according to some arbitrarial
societal expectation of doing so by the age of 18 or 21. Throughout my
own life, I've consistently been what's referred to as a "Late Bloomer".
During the return trip from having lived out West in California & Oregon, visiting
my cousin in Nevada & sightseeing at both Marble Canyon & the Grand Canyon in Arizona--this was the last time
I was a vagabond.
Boy--I wanted my own RV so bad I swore up & down to myself that this was definitely
THE LAST TRIP I'D EVER TAKE where I'd have to stay---in a rental
property that should have been condemned (it rained through the garage roof, there was a hole in the garage door a large
man could fit through, no heat in 1/2 the house, no working stove/oven) as well as a way less-than-ideal roommate situation, a
ridiculously overpriced studio apt.--again, without proper cooking facilities & crazy neighbors we had to call the Police
on, sleeping on someone's living room floor, various overpriced Hotels & Motels, with a colorful & strange pot-smoking
owner or 2 thrown in there (there are stories...)!
I got to entertain my passion for Travel & Adventure but I sure did learn some unpleasant
things about some people I thought I knew--let it suffice for me to say that I returned to Florida
with a few less so-called "friends" than when I went out there & I know it sounds like a worn out cliche`to say--that I realize the need to just chalk it up to
life experience & growth by fully understanding my own mistakes & intending to not repeat them...
