Monday was a flying trip back to Houston. Poor Tank had been going with us back and forth, so he was sad when packing, but now gets excited when I load the Yukon, thinking he’s going with us; this morning was no different. He is a rescue and had terrible separation anxiety when we got him, after Zoey, I’ve seen it come back a bit. I just leave, as I do every time, and say goodbye, then walk out. So, I told Amanda, Don’t cry in front of him, you’ll just get him upset before we leave! She did well, but I’m sure he got a bunch of extra pets as she left, though! YJ was pretty sad about us going, too! He wanted to have a “staff meeting” at StarBs to send us off in Uvalde. It’s become his customary send-off for us.
We needed to pack as much of the apartment as we could before we left for Nashville the following day. Jenny and Jeremy had volunteered to help pack when they came to see us in the hospital the week before. The Vanderbilt social worker had told us that now is not a time to say no to anyone. She was speaking more toward money and accepting what help we can, but in general, too. I needed no encouragement to accept help packing, though! So they met us at the apartment when we arrived. They began packing the kitchen up, which, in typical Simmons fashion, had a lot in it. Sybil also showed up to help. The apartment had a lot in it. I had a decent amount we’d brought up in the beginning, but we really made it home when we thought we were going to renew the lease and stay through the end of the year. Good thing I didn’t renew the lease that long! It was a great little home and perfectly suited us. I hope we find something as good here.
We had bought totes on the way up; we figured long-term storage would be better in them than in boxes. We will have friends come and collect everything, then take it to our downtown place to store until I secure an apartment here in Nashville. However, I told them to leave the trailers packed if they could; I have a feeling Amanda won’t be listed long. I don’t know what it is, I just think once they bump her to status two, it will be quick. She has a friend who was transplanted at Vanderbilt; same blood type, smaller size, shorter, high antibodies. So, a very similar case, and her first offer was in two months at status four. They didn’t take that heart, but it still shows that Amanda’s wait could be much quicker inpatient at status two. I’ve already told Amanda that I’m 50/50 on whether I’ll be going home for my first two weeks of work. I don’t know, I just have a feeling, and I hope I’m right!
After packing most of the house up, we headed out for dinner with Jenny and Jeremy. Sybil passed, saying we “kids” didn’t need an old lady with us! It was good to hang out with friends before we left. We hadn’t been able to hang out with them as we’d planned while living in Houston, either they had a bug going through the family, or we’d be gone. We still needed to get a few more totes; I underestimated the amount we’d need. So, we swung by a Walmart to pick up some more. Coming from a small town, Walmart is a regular for us. Most Walmarts in the big city are much different than our small town ones. Intercity Walmarts scare me; this one was no different. I made it out unscathed, though! Amanda had done too much, even with all of us telling her to take it easy, so she was pretty tired and hit the sack once we were back home. We had a laundry list, including laundry for the morning, too.
We got up and got to work promptly, though I should have gotten Amanda some StarBs to give her a little morning spunk. We underestimated our packing list, and it took all morning and into the early afternoon to pack the rest of the apartment. Once done, we ran by The Joint to both get an adjustment. Amanda won’t have a chiropractor appointment for a while, and we both wanted to get one before the long road trip. My back was feeling over the hill after all the moving back home and the packing of the apartment. My middle back was a mess; even the Chiropractor said, ‘Wow, you really needed that!’ After that, I needed to drop the router for the Wifi off at the store before we hit the road. And that last stop before the road was the much-needed Starbucks! We got onto the interstate right into bad traffic, a dead standstill with maps saying it was a 30-minute delay. I won’t miss downtown Houston traffic, that’s for sure.
Our first call on the road was Sybil; she’d already volunteered to clean the apartment and wanted to see if she could go by and clean the kitchen and bath. She was also going to do some paint touch up, she’d sweet-talked the maintenance guy to get a little for her apartment, she said. I could tell Amanda was feeling pretty rough; she’d done too much. We had planned to meet our Brackettville dog sitter as we got to Louisiana. She and Amanda had become friends, and her husband was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, so they were close by. Once on the road, as late as it was, we realized there was no way we’d be there for dinner time and swapped it to a morning meet-up instead. We got to my aunts around 10:30 at night, she’s always amazed I’m able to predict our arrival pretty spot on. Once, when coming up with my mom and dad, I threw out an arrival time that we missed by a few hours, and she was worried. From then on, I’m a lot more accurate with our arrival times!
We met Fred and Megan for coffee and breakfast, it was cheat day for us. It was good to spend time with both of them. I’ve always been interested in planes, so I had a ton of questions about Fred’s wings since he flies the B-52 bomber. He had questions about the railroad as well, and it was the first time all four of us had sat down together for very long. We met at a coffee shop downtown Minden, which we’d found on our last trip. It’s a neat downtown with old cobblestoned streets, and being there always brings back memories. When I was younger, my mother had her main fine dining restaurant off the back porch of our ranch home, but she also had a lunch spot once in Downtown Minden. My father also had a feed store there. My mother’s best friend at the time had a children’s center where I would often go, walking back and forth between the places.
After coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and lots of chatting, we hit the road for the long trip to Nashville. We took a different route than last time, since we had good coffee, we didn’t need a detour to StarBs this time. It’s not a fun drive and isn’t the prettiest either. We were tired, and Amanda didn’t want to go anywhere to eat, so we grabbed something close to the hotel to take back to the room. We chose a dumpling house for its variety of dumplings and soup options. It was a literal house, too, out of an old home in Old Town next to the university. Our hotel wasn’t a traditional one, but rather a collection of short-term apartments. There was no front desk; everything was handled via the app, including building door codes. It was a bit confusing, and the parking was a pain, but it was a nice one-bedroom apartment. I wanted to try it out, in case we needed to stay somewhere right after the transplant, before I secured an apartment. It was very close to the hospital and would be a great temporary spot or for someone visiting us who needed a place to stay. It was cheaper than a hotel and most corporate furnished apartments, but still twice the cost of an unfurnished apartment. Additionally, no pets were allowed, making it an unsuitable long-term option for us. Once all settled in, we bellied up to the kitchen bar and ate our dumplings. Afterwards, we pulled out the pullout sofa bed and snuggled up for a movie since there wasn’t a TV in the bedroom. I worked on a post, and we went to bed after a long day.
There’s a new song out, I’ve heard it a bunch lately, and it really spoke to me. I’ve heard the songwriter’s commentary on it, and it’s moving. She’d had some health issues of her own. When down and out, one day, she felt as though God was speaking to her. She put it in the chorus of the song. ”Child, I’m planting seeds, I’m a good God, and I have a good plan. So trust that I’m holding a watering can, and someday you’ll see that flowers grow in the valley.” We are in the valley now, and we’ve seen the flowers grow. But sometimes, when the water is held, it allows our roots to grow deeper, deepening our faith in God. Coming from a drought-stricken area, I can say the rain comes, it always does, sometimes just not when we think we need it most. Having plenty of drought-stricken times in my life, I can also say that the spiritual rain comes. The valleys feel rough in the drought, and you’re always looking up to the mountains. But when you’re up on the mountain, you’re looking down at the valley, because flowers grow in the valley. So if you’re in a valley that feels dry, just a reminder my favorite part of this song: trust that God is holding the watering can.
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