I threw my back out this weekend, moving furniture around in the kids’ rooms and then made it worse by continuing to work, and then cleaning out the fridge. By Sunday I could barely walk. Getting up from a sitting position or from bed was torture, walking hurt, sitting hurt. Everything hurt. Thank all the gods for ibuprofen and heating pads. I had a massage scheduled yesterday after work as well and Emily spent extra time on my lower back, getting at the place where the muscles were protesting. I had a couple of bad nights, but this morning, despite still being stiff and sore, was much better and it’s nearly disappeared now, in the early evening. I’m hoping I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow and will be able to bend over when necessary without wincing.
My mom has bought a place out east, close to my sister, although it ended up being in South Carolina where she didn’t actually want to end up because it was just over the border in a little pocket where the border zigged. It’s 45 minutes from my sister’s place, but essentially on the outskirts of Charlotte. Brand-spanking new as well; it’s still being built. I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that she’s leaving Michigan and that it means I am most likely leaving Michigan as well (albeit virtually)…since Martin is moving home soon and my mom is moving out of state, I won’t be going back there again, most likely.
I have mixed feelings about that, for my own part…I love Michigan. It’s where I was born, where I went to college, where my parents lived in retirement, where a great many of my friends and extended family live. It’s where my dad’s ashes are buried, where we visited my grandparents when we were young (and older). I have a lot of memories wrapped up in that state. I had really been hoping to get home to Michigan one last time and still, the pandemic is putting the brakes on my plans. I CAN’T really plan. Until we get the vaccine, and even then, traveling is still an iffy business. It’s not the traveling itself per se, it’s the being elsewhere, around other people. GAH! My mom’s house sale and imminent move have happened faster than any of us really expected. She’s not moving until September most likely, and I had hoped to go in August (by which time I hoped to be vaccinated), and help Martin move and her move and see Michigan one more time, but now, who knows?
I’m thrilled she’s found a place that she likes and I’m genuinely glad that she’ll be closer to my sister, since both my brother and I are so far away. And flying to and from Charlotte will definitely be cheaper than it ever was to fly to and from Detroit. It will be exciting to see the new place and, for that matter, my sister’s place, where I haven’t yet been (they moved there in the middle of the pandemic last year). I’ve actually never been to either of the Carolinas, which is weird, considering how many states I HAVE been to (32), so that’s new, fresh territory to explore.
It feels like one chapter is ending and a new one is beginning, for lots of things, and lots of reasons.
In other news, the greening has jumpstarted here! We’ve had two days of really warm temps with sunshine and everything seems to be bursting out all at once. It’s supposed to cool down again the rest of this week, but there’s no denying spring is sproinging, even if I have yet to see a pied wagtail.