Calm After The Storm

I look at my house here in Georgia with a different perspective than I once did, mainly because it will end up being my retirement home now, when once this wasn't the case, I had my own home. This was a home for the kids and their Dad, my home was in Louisiana, and this home, well, I was only going to be here every other month or so. That was the original plan, but it didn't work out that way. I eventually began spending more and more time here, and then I got ill, and traveling was out of the question. Then in September 1, 2008 hurricane Gustav flattened my home in Louisiana, and all of a sudden this became my prime residence. So much for my retirement to Louisiana.

I had paid cash for my home and land, because I knew once I retired I would have a much smaller income. I had it planned where I could live quite nicely on about $500. a month. When Nick graduated from High School in four more years, I was going to move back to Louisiana for good. That is how it was planned, but the best laid plans often get changed when Mother Nature gets involved.

So now when I look around at this home I think to myself, why in the world did I buy this house.....it certainly isn't very big, nor very fancy. I think maybe if I had planned to spend the rest of my life here, I would have bought a different home, and maybe one that isn't on a hill. Well it is comfortable, and easy to keep clean, and the kids will eventually move out and it will be plenty big enough for me. But I sure wish I had a bigger kitchen......boy do I miss my huge kitchen in Louisiana. But it is gone now, actually the house has probably been all torn down by now. I need to call the man who was supposed to have done it, he was supposed to be done by the end of December.

I have one more trip to make, going to go and dig up the heirloom plants that my Mother gave me. And I have a few things left in the shed. I had left all of David's things there, just in case I found a way to get them to him. But after the crap he pulled over at Facebook, I think I will just toss them in a dumpster. I don't really give a darn if he gets them now or not. Nothing of any real value there anyway. A bunch of nicnacs and junk. The music I moved with me here to Georgia, and the guitar, also, and the other things most of them got ruined in the rain. I sold a lot of stuff at a yard sale that I had, and a lot of stuff walked out the door with "good intentioned" neighbors who came to "help." Mostly what they helped with was helping themselves to my stuff. I guess they felt that I had already lost so much stuff, what did it matter if they took some more. And I was to busy cleaning up my furniture for the movers to keep my eye on everyone who came to "help." I really didn't get any help, mostly all they did, was come to see the damage and steal from me. After that, I decided I didn't want to live there anymore anyway. Some great neighbors.......I lived there for 8 years and didn't see any of them, and then when the house gets destroyed, they show up to "help." After they picked through my stuff, and walked away with a lot of it, I never saw any of them again.

I am going to list the land for sale in a couple of years, in the meantime I am just going to hang onto it and hope the market improves. Although in Louisiana you can't expect much.....after all, property is not very valuable there. And my home is in a rather remote part of LA.

I am still depressed over my home, I feel very sad at times realizing that my home is no more, and that my retirement plans must be totally changed. I am once again living with my husband, we have quite a strange "marriage", but it is okay. It is companionship. No physical contact, but that is okay also....