Cleaning

The trailer has reached a new level of clean. There is fresh paint everywhere, Sweetie got down on her hands and knees to scrub the kitchen and bathroom linoleum. We bought mop and glow and now they shine like they never have—not in the five years we’ve owned the trailer anyway. Sunday I rented a carpet cleaner from the evil Home Depot—a place I vowed not to go since finding out they are as red as their logo and give money to the dark side. But you can rent a nice carpet cleaner there for only 15 bucks…so I broke my own guidelines and got one.

The trailer sparkles now. Sparkles like it’s all shiny new, having just arrived, fresh from the factory floor. What is it that compels me to make the trailer look better than it ever has before, in those few weeks before we pack everything up and head down the road? I’ve become obsessive about it really…I wake up in the middle of the night making lists of things that I’ve somehow decided need to get done before it can sell.

At least I was until last night. The trailer hit the market yesterday afternoon, and after cleaning my tool bench and touching up some of the door trim, I was, for the first time in weeks, able to sleep soundly through the night, without waking up to make a single list.

Wednesdays I work a half-day at the mill. I’ve been leaving Ike with the sitter and coming to a local truck stop for a cup of coffee and the use of their free Wi-Fi. The fact that they make a decent sandwich doesn’t hurt either.

The plan right now as far as I know it, is that I’ll rest for a week or so, and then begin the long and arduous task of packing up the rest of the trailer and getting everything ready to move. Getting it ready for putting on the market has at least made me deal with all the piles of junk that seem to have accumulated around here over the past few years.

I’m hoping that the boxing up of the remains will be a relatively painless process. Though I guess that remains to be seen. When I count up all the times I’ve moved in my life I think this will be number 20—a number that makes it average exactly once every two years of my life.

Because did I mention?

Yeah, that’s right, this year I make the move solidly into the middle of my life. Right smack dab into the big 4-0.

I am not afraid.

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