THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES
Circa 2021
OKAY, so it turns out 2021 wasn’t all that different from
2020, and YES, 2021 could be called 2020-A, but whatchugonnado! Us? Well, we went out of our way to make 2021 a
memorable year. Read on…
Can you say “mask-up, social your distance, get your shots – all of them (as they just seem to keep coming…) then don’t worry and be happy…”
Soooo, as the
great lock-down of 2020 morphed into the “lessor-lockdown of 2021” and we began
to occasionally poke our heads out of the sand, we were able to move about the
cabin, so-to-speak, a little bit more.
Now, thoroughly hooked on drive-thrus and parking lots with trees, it
was fun to monitor the “now hiring” signs all over town and the resulting
bidding war for the services of those willing to go back to work - both of
them. We continued to use these various haunts to stay nourished and liquidated,
discovering that even parked, neither of us could down a taco without staining
our shirts, not to mention what the result was if we tried to eat on-the-go.
We scheduled our annual marital contract renewal conference for late January and early February. This year the final vote was 2-0 to effect the 51st renewal. Frankly, we suspect the thought of breaking anyone else in at this point was just too tiring to pursue. So, we voted to continue the adventure and exchanged the nickels and Hershey Bars again. The official exchange this year took place in and around Gulf Shores, Georgia. We had a good road trip down to the gulf, stopping in Nashville at Cock-of-the-Walk for some great seafood and a helicopter tour of the city. Once at the gulf and we ate more seafood and strolled the beaches at will. The return trip included a loop over to New Orleans, for more seafood and a stroll through the French Quarter. Following a Swamp Tour, it was back up to Shreveport to visit some of our old haunts (where this all began – including commemorative muffuletta sandwiches at Fertittas Deli and Southern Maid Donuts) on to Memphis for a night on the river and then home. The other highlight was the Buick’s oil change. Be still my heart…
I do believe we set a new personal best record for travel up to Michigan this year. It can be best described as nobody misses anybody this year because there wasn’t time to get lonely between the trips. It became more like a “commute”. March also saw visitors from the west as Uncle Cordell and a couple of his fans came to check us out for what turned into a pretty good week. In April we took a short trip over to Paducah to take in the Dogwood Festival and visit the National Quilt Museum. Then, in early May we headed north, again, right after “Derby Day”, although for the life of me I can’t remember why… Oh Wait! It was to meet Great Grandmonster #4, Joel Richard Tyler Roper (I have GOT to start writing things down). He’s a cute little spud though - well done Drew and Katy.
And suddenly, it was “moving day…”
There must have
been something in the water on that Michigan trip because it wasn’t very long
after that we decided it might be fun to sell the house and move. It COULD have been that big lot that is
uphill in both directions, OR the mowing honeymoon that has long since run its
course, or MAYBE our surrendering to the endless weeding battle, OR maybe we
just downsized. Anyway, it seemed like a
good idea at that time -- never tried anything like that in the middle of a
pandemic you know. What could go
wrong? First there was the visit with
our Realtor, then many, many house cleanings and lots and lots of trips to
Goodwill. Finally, about a thousand
signatures later we took the leap. The house went to market on Thursday morning
and we had a signed contract on Friday afternoon after a nice couple from New Mexico
bought it sight unseen over the internet.
The things we can do these days…
That 6–9-month time cushion we thought we’d have? It turned out to be
just a dream, thus, so you can guess how June and July turned out…
It was BACK to Michigan in June, I believe to deliver cast off furniture this time. I think that makes four trips so far for those of you who are counting. In July we closed on the various properties and moved into the new place. Get this, we found “professionals” to do the heavy lifting for us -- Lady Wildcat Packers and Wildcat Movers. These folks employ students at the University of Kentucky to do the work. Picture in your mind half a dozen or so college kids packing and loading and unpacking and unloading your life-long accumulations of important things. What do you see?
June and July now just a blurry part of our history, we occupy a nice little retirement bungalow in Georgetown, a suburb of Sadieville. Ironically, we can see our church house from the front yard, but still had to change wards, who knew. August and September were celebrated by drilling millions of holes in our new house so as to hang all manner of drapes, and rods, and pictures, and lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!!! But I digress…
I can’t believe we did not go to Michigan in July. We corrected that in August, right after “completing” the move. Gramma Bonnie decided it was time to come to Kentucky to count heads, which, you guessed it, included a trip to where else? That’s right boys and girls, it was back to the great North Woods ostensibly to “officialize” the moniker for the new kid – JRT Roper and his hard to remember name. I complain, but it was a nice trip.
Just itching to get away for a little R&R, we hit the road in mid-October for our fall colors run, this time over to the mountains of West Virginia. Nice trip, except for the part where we got lost on a gravel road that kept getting smaller and smaller and deeper and darker and farther into the woods. So glad we were in the Jeep. Aye, but at last we are saved when we T’d into a blacktopped road with the right highway numbers.
Oh Yeah – The Kids -- They’re fine, well mostly fine, remember who their parents are… Oh!, November and December saw 3 – countem’ three (3) more trips to Michigan. Just thought you’d like to know that.
Congrats on having accomplished this your most important holiday task. We wish you just the merriest Christmas and hap-hap-happiest New Year.… The Christensen’s !!!
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