In Flying, they call this a touch and go

The incident with Chappy never was forgotten, but he moved on.  He no longer talked about Diane all the time.  We were moving to Illinois.  We found our house in Naperville.  Chappy was good at getting us moved from one state to another, he was not good at helping with the move. He had to work, so I was the one who sold the houses, boxed the house, coordinated the movers, managed the moving van, directed the movers to where boxes and furniture had to go and unpacked us.  Chappy worked, he volunteered his parents to assist me.

The house in Fishers wasn't on the market but a few months.  We bought the house in Naperville contingent on selling the house in Fishers and it sold.  I have never had a hard time selling a house because they are move in ready when I pack up. They are beautifully decorated and well maintained.

The  house in Naperville was my all time favorite.  If I ever build another home, I would build that one on a smaller scale. There was very little to do as I loved the color scheme when we bought it, but unpacking and finding where everything will fit takes some time.

We moved in to the house on August 1, 1998. I had quit my job at Lumbermens. I was concerned about moving.  The last move to Indiana and the bout of depression that I faced was not some thing I wanted to encounter again.  I stopped taking those pills shortly after I started feeling better.  It is not recommended, but I was getting more grief for taking them than what I wanted to deal with.  I struggled without them, but I got through it.  I didn't want to go back.

We agreed that there was not the urgency in my returning to work as there was when we moved to Indiana. We  had been approved for a mortgage based on Chappy's salary and my estimated salary when we bought this house, but we were able to make ends meet and still save money. I wanted to get settled in before I started working.

I suspected this would be our home for a long time as Chappy had no desire to move to Atlanta. We had been married just a month shy of six years and for the first time ever we lived in the same state that he worked in and I intended on working in.

His buddies from school would joke with him that I seemed to always find him when he moved to another state, but in those six years, our house was in one state and Chappy worked in another.

I just loved this house and having my husband come home at night.  I loved cooking dinner for the two of us when he was home, which is something I rarely did as he was never there and on weekends we were traveling or had company and ate out.

The hardest thing about moving to Illinois was leaving Precious behind.  I had grown so used to having her beside me every day while I lived in Indiana.  I missed her so much, but her owners allowed me to bring her up to Illinois on vacation.  Her vacation lasted about two months when they called and wanted her to come back home. I don't know how I would have survived in Indiana without her.  In all honesty, she came into my life when I was faced with depression.  Chappy insisted I walk that dog when I took my walk every night.  I didn't want to walk the neighbor's dog, but I did and she is the reason that I could stop those pills and not fall off a cliff.  She saved my life, so moving away from her was  very difficult.  Although she spent more time with me than she did at her own home, she was not mine to take with me for good.

She saved me in Illinois as well.  Chappy still traveled but he was home at night more.  He still didn't come  home at a reasonable time. He would leave in the morning at  six to beat the traffic.  He'd leave the office at seven to avoid the traffic. The drive was about thirty minutes without traffic, but the morning and evening rush easily made it well over a hour and if there was an accident, you'd be sitting in a parking lot on the highway waiting for the it to clear.  There was no other way to travel except the highway to get from our  house to his office. But more times than not, he was flying all over. The difference is when he was in town, he came home instead of a hotel.

I spent time unpacking, getting to know the area and making our house a home. Precious and I would go exploring and find green ways that we could park the car and hike through a wooded field.  We did this every day. I find when my emotions are mixed, walking in nature brings tranquility to my soul.  We found many places we could go roam.  Precious was just the best dog, she'd walk leash free and if I saw someone coming, a whistle would bring her to my side.  We both loved our time together and where ever I was headed, she was always in the back of the car.

1997 Bravada

I had traded in the Cutlass the year before and now drove a 1997 Bravada. The back of that SUV was fit for traveling with Precious.  I had it filled with beds, water and her toys.  She loved to go in the car!

My grandmother had a heart attack when I was in Naperville and I traveled back to Michigan.  She was in Sparrow Hospital.  Dad had driven down from Houghton Lake and my dad's sister had driven up from Florida along with her son.  Her son had a very shady history, but when ever they thought Grandma might be kicking her heels up and taking a cloud to heaven, they were right there with there hands out, ready to snatch whatever they could.

My grandmother and I were very much alike in many ways, but I would not have considered us close.  She laid in her bed, Dad and his sister just outside the door when I came up to the room.  She cried out, "Oh, my little girl is here, oh, my little girl is here."

I had to turn around to see who was behind me? Little girl?  Was she drugged or was she delusional?  No, this was all show for her daughter, who had told her once that there was no reason to return to Michigan, there was nothing there for her.  It hurt my grandmother's heart that her own daughter did not come home to visit her except when she was ill or needed money. This was my grandmother stabbing her daughter in the heart, claiming that I was her little girl, not her.

My grandmother's husband was in the room. They were considering open heart surgery.  Grandma was in the early stages of dementia and really did not understand what this surgery entailed.  She was eighty-three years old.  I sat on her bed and tried to explain to her that the surgery would require a very massive scar.  Grandma was a very vain woman.  I tried to explain that she may not survive the surgery and that she would not be able to do what she loved, cleaning house.  Joe, her husband had told her she needed the surgery and so she thought she had to go through with it.

The doctor had come down to talk to my dad and his sister.  Joe, told me to go down and sit in on this meeting and tell him what was going on.  He wasn't the brightest man and the doctors may have told him this surgery was very dangerous for an eighty three year old woman.  He may have thought talking to her children would allow then the knowledge to discuss it with their mother.

I entered the conference room.  My Aunt Bonnie was non too happy to see me in there. "Cin, they want to talk to Ma's children, I don't think that means you."

"Joe told me to come in here and listen to what the doctor's had to say. I guess he thinks because I deal with this stuff everyday, I'd be more informed and he wants me to report back to him, what is being said, so watch yourself!" Dad just smirked. He never did like his sister and she was a piece of work.  She didn't understand how serious this surgery was and the doctor was talking over their heads.  Dad understood that it was major surgery.

I left the room and headed back to Grandma.  I asked Joe to sit down as I wanted to talk to both of them.  Dad and Bonnie stood in the hallway.  Bonnie was crying as she didn't understand just how serious this was. As simple as I could explain it to them,  I did.  Grandma looked at me and asked if she had to have this surgery and I said, "No, it is totally up to you and you alone.  Don't let any of us persuade you.  This is your body and the pain and recovery time will be tremendous."

She wanted to know what would happen if she didn't have the surgery and I told her that she'd have to watch herself and her activities.  She wanted to know if she could still clean and I said, "Certainly, but no moving furniture all over the house alone."

She looked at Joe and told him to tell the doctor she was going home and then she asked me to help her get dressed.  I assisted  her with her clothes  and  fixed her hair.  She did not like going out in public looking like a rag doll and certainly not with bed head.  We stood there behind the closed door and just looked at each other.  She said, "I've always been proud of you, you made something of yourself.  Not like that other one out there."  She was referring to my cousin who had been in and out of jail over the years.  In, more than out. She grabbed my hand and said, "Now let's get out of here, I have a house to clean!"

I asked her if she wanted a wheelchair.  Hospital policy generally requires patents be wheeled out.  She wasn't having any of that. She walked in that hospital and she'd walk out. The only time she'd be rolled out was on a gurney.  I spent a lot of time with my grandma when I was a child, but as an adult, she had changed so much that I didn't really know her and I never liked her husband.

Back of home

When I was divorced from Killer, I'd go over to her house, she lived less than a mile from me.  She loved to shop and eat at Bill Knapp's.  I'd take her shopping and to dinner.  She always attempted to grab the bill, but I'd take it and pay for dinner.  She just thought that was really something as she had always been the one handing money out to her daughter and her daughter's kids.  She really felt she had been treated when I would pay the bill! She would have to tell Dad the next time she saw him, "You know what Cindy did? She bought me dinner!"

We got her settled in at home and Dad and I went to the Flap Jack House for dinner.  He was headed back to Houghton Lake and I was headed back to Illinois.  We had a heart to heart talk that evening.  One we had never had before and have never had since.  I love my Dad more than words can describe.

The House is back up for sale!

Shortly after this happened, I was home and had unpacked the last box.  I was just getting ready to start painting one of the guest bedrooms when the phone rang.  It was Chappy.  He wanted to know what I was up to and I told him I had just started painting.  "You might want to put the paint brush down, I've got some news for you."

Put the paint brush down? What kind of news could you deliver that I'd need to put the paintbrush down.  "What's up?'

"They just fired Dennis, we are moving to Atlanta."