All Class Reunion-2017

This weekend is the all class reunion for Douglas High School.  They do these every three years.   During my time as superintendent, I attended two of them.   The ladies who are on the committee work tirelessly to put this together.

This year is also my 50th class reunion. Instead of having a separate one, it is part of the larger one.   

Last night they separated it into three places depending on decades.   I attended the one at the American Legion as that was where the class of 1967 would be.   I really like the idea of having multiple classes because it was nice to visit with friends who were both older and younger.

I walked to the Legion as it is about four blocks from the house.   I had a wonderful time catching up with many people who I have not seen in years.  It was also fun to meet some  of the people that I have gotten to know on Facebook.

It was really crowded and there were so many people to hug.  I wish I had more time to spend with some of them but it is hard with an activity like this.

I had only planned on staying a short time, but that plan didn't last long and I am glad that I was able to visit with so many people.

Tonight is a dinner and dance held at the county fairgrounds.  I am supposed to go with my friends, Tom and Sandra Sanders.     I am not sure yet whether or not I will go.   I have a lot to do in the morning in order to lock up 858.

Before I went, I was sitting in the almost empty house.  It was such a weird feeling to have only two chairs, a bed, a lamp and a few things that will be picked up tomorrow.

Tomorrow everything but the piano will be gone and so will I.  I will leave as soon as everything is picked up.   We are donating the piano to the school district and it will be picked up on Monday.   

It has been an emotional two weeks and it has also been physically exhausting.   Just going up and down the very steep steps is a work-out on its own.   

One of our cousins who lives back east asked me to take some pictures, which I did this morning.  The pictures don't do justice for the beauty of this old house.  With everything out, there is a lot of dust, etc.   Next week the realtor will have it cleaned and get it ready to put on the market.   

My hope is that whoever buys it will love it like our family did and take care of it.  My mom and Teresa took excellent care of this house and kept it up.   However, it is 103 years old.   I think that whoever buys it won't need to do a whole lot.  Probably painting everything will be a priority. 

The carpet is old and underneath are beautiful wood floors.  I think that they would look amazing if they were refinished.   

So as I sit here writing this and listening to music, I am thinking that I need to get a few things done in terms of throwing away trash and getting my own things together to leave tomorrow.  

We will see what the day brings.   As sad and hard as this has been, I am ready to be done and get back to my new reality.   

When I get home to Gilbert, I have some adjusting to do.  I won't have this hanging over me anymore and that will be a relief.  For the first time in my life, I am living alone.   I had a few weeks before I came down here and it was very nice.  I look forward to going through things at my house and getting rid of a lot of  "stuff," but that isn't going to happen for awhile as I am fairly burnt out in that department right now,

Since I retired in July, 2015, I haven't really had any down time.   When I first got back, I did some work for ASU, helped Judy with Teresa, and did some subbing as a principal. From June through November, I had Teresa full time and I couldn't leave her alone during that time. It was a 24/7 job and I am so happy that I was able to do that.  In addition, that was during the time I ran for the GPS Board so I was busy with campaigning.   When Teresa went to the group home, I tried to go every day to visit her,

In January when I was elected to the Board, it became almost a full time job.   These past several months while we were doing our superintendent search, I was still busy.   Now that we have our wonderful superintendent in place, I foresee that my hours are going to be far less.

So I will have some adjusting to do with time, too.   My one goal for the next month is to get back to walking and get rest as I am physically exhausted.   And I will have to adjust to being alone and not having "work" to do every day.

I worried a little about being retired and going from 60 hour weeks to nothing, but that certainly didn't happen in the two plus years.  It may now....   But I will figure it out.

As I wrote earlier, I am sad about selling this house.    However, I am ready to get back home and have this behind me.   Tomorrow it will be over. Monday begins a new chapter in my life and for the first time ever, I will truly have nothing I have to do other than the normal duties of a Governing Board member.