Reveling in Warmth

You know how they say, "Be careful what you pray for, 'cause you just might get it?" Well, here I am, reveling in warmth. And it couldn't suit me more.

I'm sweating!!! I always feel better once I get to sweating, and I am sure getting that here.

Audrey messaged me, worried that my old indecisiveness might have swung around and hit me from behind. "You don't feel nervous or abandoned, do you?"

"No, I don't," I said. "I feel grown-up."

A Long Road Trip to Find a New Home

Well, we made it. My daughter Audrey was so kind as to help me to make the long move from Spokane to South Padre Island. As we were on the road, I was feeling pretty unsure. It is a pretty gutsy move for me to move so far away by myself, and as is typical for me, I spent pretty much the whole trip second-guessing my decision. However, my daughter Audrey encouraged me just to go for broke and head to SPI, come what may. "Just go for it. Have your adventure. No matter what happens, you will have had an adventure."

We got to SPI Sunday night, after Audrey found a great Priceline deal on a nice, beachfront motel. Lockdown was in full force. Masks required to go anywhere, even while in a car. Policemen stopped us at a checkpoint just after we crossed the St Isabella bridge. It was late, and sleep was welcome. Audrey welcomed the air conditioning, and in order to reward her for all her days of driving, I didn't even complain. I just got under those covers and drifted off to sleep.

If I still had any doubts, they all left me Monday morning, when I was able to take a glorious walk on the beach at South Padre Island in comfortable temperatures. Amazing.

I got back to the room and Audrey went for her walk, and then we drove up and down the island just a bit, and headed out to the apartment. I couldn't get over the warmth. The feeling of warmth. Finally.

I signed the papers, and we unloaded the car. No furniture, just my clothes, papers, family pics, and my little flat screen TV. Audrey took me back to Port Isabel to get a few groceries for the fridge, and she was back on her way. I'm sure she probably needed to sleep for a week, after driving a rental car from Omaha to Spokane, Spokane back to Omaha, and then to SPI and back to Omaha. Yikes.

And here I stayed in the warmth. Ah . . . 

Ready or Not, SPI, Here I Come!

Well, this is it. Last day. Though I have still had a lot of health challenges here, I have made some good strides forward as well. Most of all, I have had some good, regular family time, including precious times spent as a grandma to my sweet Scarlet. Regular time spent with grandchildren is something I haven't had much since living near Jake and Danielle's family a few years ago. I am really, really going to miss having Scarlet come down to my room for those evening visits, and especially taking the bus to school for a while before lockdown hit.

I am so grateful to Jason and Ericka for giving me this opportunity to spend time with them, make new friends, and get to know this glorious area. I will never forget my time here.

 

I can't believe that I'm moving. I have so many mixed feelings. I have really loved it here in Spokane with Jason and his family. There was a lot that I wanted to get to know about Spokane in the summer, but even if I can't do all that, I knew that I didn't want to leave town without taking a walk along High Drive. Jason drove me past it when I first came here, and I couldn't wait to see it close up. 

Lockdown is pretty much in effect, but thankfully here in Spokane people still make outdoor exercise a high priority. I was not alone, as there were many walkers, joggers, and bicycle riders out, though people were maintaining distance. 

Taking this walk sure made it hard to think about leaving. 

I Can Dream, Can't I?

I have really loved my time here in Spokane. I truly have fallen in love with the city. And while my health has certainly improved over the past several months, I find that I not having complete control over my home environment is causing me problems.



I don't really know how much greater my improvement would be if I could have a place of my own, but since there are no low-income apartments available for me here, I can't really test it out.

I have been looking on the USDA website for low-income housing for an apartment in a warmer climate since I have lived in USDA housing before and I really like it. It is generally much easier to get into than Section 8, and I especially love that it is available only in small towns. Small-town living has always been more my style. City life is not for me, although if I was going to live in a city, I think I would choose Spokane. 

The USDA website has a handy map that makes it easy to go in and search for apartments by state and county. So, where to start? Well, I really want to go to a warm climate, so I started out by thinking about a few of our family vacations to warmer climates. My husband had a construction business, so winter vacations were all we could do. In our early years, we couldn't usually afford vacations far from home, but later on we enjoyed a few nice ones in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Corpus Christi and South Padre Island in Texas. I went in by counties and, to my surprise, found out that there was an available apartment 15 minutes away from South Padre Island, with only one person on the wait list.

I'm not sure it's something that will work out, but I am getting on the list. Who knows?

In Search of a Home

I'm back to looking for a home, for several reasons. I have so enjoyed getting to know Spokane and spending time around my son and his family. However, I need to be in a place that meets all of my needs. That means a list of features that I have long recognized but somehow get lulled into thinking that I can do okay without some of them.

The features include:

1) all-electric ~ no gas or oil heat
2) no Wi-Fi, in a low-tower area
3) no users of fragrance in the home
4) a place where I can set my own home temperature ~ preferably a warmer climate altogether, since cold is one of my major triggers.

Yes, I was really looking forward to living here in the summer, all the parks and places that I was wanting to walk through when it turns warm, and the free city pools! I will really miss my family a lot. It's been great getting to spend more time with my son and his wife, and especially my granddaughter, Scarlet. I will miss the bus system here too. It's been so great to be able to get around, even if I have had some issues.

As far as visible episodes, I may appear to be getting better. I am certainly better than I was a year ago, when I was extremely weak every day, often unable to speak clearly, rarely able to go anywhere.

I am much better than that now, but I still have episodes of weakness pretty much every day after enjoying my increased activity level. I have just managed to "fit it into my schedule." I know when I get home, I will basically be unable to do anything the rest of the day or evening. I generally feel it is worth it to have been able to get out and about for even a bit.

However, there's more than that. The exposures to cold and increased activity mainly cause attacks of weakness and paralysis. The exposure to Wi-Fi, gas and oil fumes, fragrance and cleaning supplies does more than that. It leaves me living in a continual mental fog, and a mind is, indeed, a terrible thing to waste.

Low-income housing here in Spokane is very difficult to find, as the need far outweighs the available housing. I am on a few lists, but the projected wait time is very long. So, as long as I am looking again, I will be looking in the warmer climates. I long for warmth.

It's a big decision for me. I have never lived far away from my family. I just want to feel better.

 


I recently finished the nutrition course, "Transform Your Relationship with Food," and it was amazing. I made this video as a contest entry for a scholarship for the longer nutrition course offered by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, and I actually won! I don't know if I will actually be able to follow up on it right now, as things are really getting kind of crazy. But it was great to win.