I have reached the next stage of my Peace Corps Preparation.

Letting go of the Past and Looking Forward to the Future.

      I have been very busy getting ready for the Peace Corps by sorting through my things to decide what to get rid of and what to pack.  I have made one trip to Kansas City with everything that I wanted to see what my kids could use and unloaded some treasured pictures, half my DVD collection, my camping gear, and my desk top computer. but ended up bringing half my car load back to store at my sister's.  My kids like me have plenty of things of their own and don't have room for everything that I might feel is a family treasure that I feel like hanging on to.  I was lucky enough to have a Sister-in-law who just moved from an apartment back to a house so she could take most of my furniture that I wanted to hang on to so not only would she take my family treasures like the dresser and desk that my Grandmother gave us, the rocker that we rocked our kids in, and the cradle that I made for our kids to sleep in that we use as a coffee table.  But she also had room for both my single and twin size bed.  She was also willing to store my Christian CD and DVD collection since my kids didn't want them.  I have been working at coping my collection so that I could leave the cases and originals but take a copy in a DVD folder to enjoy and share with others in Armenia.  My truck has come in handy to take two large loads of things to my sister's but luckily my nephew was helping someone move from the St. Paul with his trailer and had just enough room to haul all of my furniture down to Mason City for me.  My other nephew and his wife was willing to help out so I was able to get a full load in my truck taken to Mason City with my truck so I didn't have to figure out how to get my truck there and still get back to the Twin Cities.  My nephew has been very happy to help me out by taking my truck while I am gone.  I did have to put some money into fixing a variety of things to make it usable but if I decide that I would like to have the truck back after I return all I need to do is pay him back for any money he needs to put into it for repairs.  My Saturn Ion has now had to make three other trips down to Iowa with full loads but they were trips that I was planning to make anyway and the Saturn took less than half the gas that the truck did. 

        I have finally moved all my things from Minnesota to Iowa.  July 31st was my last day of work and as of August 1st I am officially retired from my three jobs in Minnesota.  They had replaced me in my Group Home Management Position but then my replacement took a Promotion and they are replacing my position again.  I have been floating around recently helping out in my old house with my Autistic guys and primarily working in a house with primarily Guys with Mental Health issues.  My Program Coordinator in that house has stepped down to take my position and they have a new Program Coordinator so that house will probably adjust to my absence even though one of my guys still tries to call me even if it is just to say he has a new job even though I no longer work there.  My friend David will probably miss me the most since he had an accident in his electric wheel chair by accidentally going down some steps and having the electric wheel chair tip over on top of him.  He has his ankle broken in two places and his off of work for three weeks.  He says I am irreplaceable but he has been looking for replacement help to help him in the bathroom at work and to work with him at home and although he hasn't found anyone yet his other staff have stepped up to pick up some of the hours till he does.  I had dropped my regular Clients with Accurate Home Care early in the spring and finally my person who would call me whenever their staff was sick or couldn't work got dependable backup staff so I have been slowly preparing to leave my work in Minnesota to prepare to join the Peace Corps.

       My landlord roommate that I have been renting from for the past year while I have been preparing to downsize for leaving for the Peace Corps has been looking for a new job while looking to get someone to take my place in renting from him.  He has been very helpful in taking many of the things that I didn't want to move and even helping me get rid of some of the junk that I wanted to dispose of.  Although he has sometimes expressed anxiousness for me to leave for the Peace Corps he does seem surprised that we have gotten along as well as we have even though he is hoping to get Conservative Republican someday as a roommate.  It has always helped that I was rarely home,  I was a night owl, and he was going to bed by the time I was getting home.  After living on my own in an apartment for almost 10 years I let him know that he was my preparation for living with a host family in Armenia.  Although I doubt that I will have as much privacy and alone time in Armenia I could get spoiled by getting used to someone cooking for me.  I am not sure that I am anxious to have to work at furnishing a new place in Armenia since I have a tendency to want to hang on to things that I get.  That is why I am struggling to figure out how I will put everything that I would like to have in Armenia in two suit cases and a duffle bag.  I now have the bags I am planning to take but still need to sort things out to figure out what I can fit into them.  I have been looking at whether I can ship a box or two to Armenia but with the largest box I can ship costing at least $4 a pound to ship I am not sure that I want to pay over $100 to ship a 25 lb. box that I am not sure will make it there in good shape.  I had been told that it may be better to pay to take an extra bag along and then I have everything with me when I arrive but although I do have some extra large duffle bags I found that it would cost $215 to take an extra bag with me so for now I need to work at seeing what I can fit into my two suit cases and carry on bag.
      I had my trunk, front, and back seat full going from Minnesota to Iowa, had enough time to sort through my bills to get them ready for my sister to monitor while I am gone and sorted through where to put the things I am storing in Mason City and still had my trunk and back seat full when I left for Kansas City.  Although my bags have been stuffed full I am still sorting through everything else I brought to see if I can squeeze in anything else.  Otherwise I may have two  boxes that I may end up shipping eventually to |Armenia or decide that I can do without them.  I don't mind shipping them later since I do have six boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that I don't mind slowly having in Armenia to get me through till the next Girl Scout Cookie drive next spring.  I am not that big a Girl Scout Cookie eater by I am sure I can find some new friends in Armenia who will help me eat them.  While in Kansas I have been busy making some last minute purchases of things I will need in Armenia while enjoying some time with my kids and Grand Children. We went Miniature Golfing with my Grand Children Friday, enjoyed going to the Guardian of the Galaxy Movie with my Son and out to eat, I got all the Recall work done on my Saturn Ion before I will pass it on to my daughter.  I purchased a few new DVD's to take to Armenia with me so we will have a movie night to watch Noah before I go, I am making some more copies to take with me, and I will leave the originals with the cases with my kids.  We may plan for a night at the Drive-in Theater before I leave and I am sure that time will pass quickly.
         I plan to help man a Peace  Corps information Table at the Ethnic Festival with the KC Returned Peace Corps Association and they have a dinner and a meeting at a Brazilian Restaurant next week so hopefully I will get to know some of them before leaving.  I was very grateful that my Peace Corps departure date ended up after my MCHS Class of 69 45th Anniversary  Class Reunion.  It gave me an opportunity to have one last party and to get to say Hi and Goodbye to many of my old classmates.  I am afraid that all this departure planning has distracted me from concentrating on my online Armenian language class but hopefully I can use the material to try to be better prepared for my Pre-service Training where I will have to learn to speak in order to get around and be able to relate to my host trainers and host family.  That should be a subject for another big article in itself.  My departure date is coming quickly with all kinds of new adventures and experiences to look forward to.