{"id":3441,"date":"2015-01-04T20:55:36","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T02:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3441"},"modified":"2015-01-04T20:55:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T02:55:36","slug":"rick-has-left-the-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3441","title":{"rendered":"Rick has left the building"},"content":{"rendered":"

That day has finally come.\u00a0 On Saturday, Rick left for Michigan to begin the next chapter in his life.<\/p>\n

I got up early on Saturday and was settled into the red chair with Sascha reading the paper when Rick got up.\u00a0 He looked out the window at the inch or so of new snow on the ground.\u00a0 I told him we had to clear the driveway before we could move the cars around to load his Honda up.\u00a0 We suited up and went out into the cold and snow.\u00a0 It took us about 30 minutes to get all of the driveway, deck, patio, and front walk cleared.\u00a0 Then it was on to the larger than life game of Tetris.<\/p>\n

Rick had spent the last three weeks deciding what items he wanted to take with him to school.\u00a0 Over the last 4 or 5 years, he had collected a lot of stuff in his room.\u00a0 I would say a lot of it was trash or junk.\u00a0 What do they say about beauty in the eye of the beholder?\u00a0 He parceled out the items he wanted to give to someone and what things were worth giving to Goodwill.\u00a0 That left the trash then.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I would be the one to bag up the leftovers and toss them.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, Rich moved all of the containers, suitcases, and odd items to the living room so we could get to them easily on Saturday morning.\u00a0 The stack didn\u2019t look that large.\u00a0 I was pretty sure it would fit into the car without any trouble.\u00a0 We all took pictures of this grouping of items as a symbol of the journey to come.<\/p>\n

The weather forecast for the last couple of days had sounded very wintry.\u00a0 There was a mix of snow, sleet, rain, ice, and maybe some leftover precipitation from last year.\u00a0 I was worried about Rick leaving in this.\u00a0 He assured me that he would drive within the limits of the weather.\u00a0 Rich reminded me that he was going to Michigan and would learn to drive in this kind of stuff.\u00a0 I took a deep breath and dropped the argument.<\/p>\n

Saturday morning opened with snow on the ground from the night before.\u00a0 It was sleeting and raining while we were clearing the driveway.\u00a0 It was not so bad as to stop the progress.\u00a0 Rick backed his car into the garage and he brought his old life out to the garage for the journey.\u00a0 I packed the car by placing items into one spot and shifting them around until everything fit.<\/p>\n

Back in the house, I prepared to say good-bye for now.\u00a0 Then Rick asked us to take him to breakfast.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 I thought we had decided not to do that.\u00a0 Rick says he just wanted to postpone leaving until the sleet stopped.\u00a0 It could be the real reason.\u00a0 This meant we would take our leave of him at the restaurant.\u00a0 We dressed and headed over to Island Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

The delay was hard.\u00a0 I was sitting across from Rick and watching him eat.\u00a0 I was so going to miss my son.\u00a0 After we were done, we walked out and gave Rick our final hugs and kisses.\u00a0 Rich and I got in the car and drove away.\u00a0 I hoped his drive would be uneventful.<\/p>\n

Sounds bad, but I already have plans for Rick\u2019s room.\u00a0 We need to rehab the current office.\u00a0 It\u2019s in bad shape and disparate for a new look.\u00a0 I plan to paint the room, replace the carpet with a hardwood floor, and arrange the office furniture in there.\u00a0 This would give me an opportunity to rip up the office and rework things in there.<\/p>\n

There is no time like the present to start this kind of project.\u00a0 I got trash bags and headed in the room formerly known as Rick\u2019s.\u00a0 Rick had left the Pacific Ocean garbage patch in front of the closet.\u00a0 This was my starting point.\u00a0 I picked through the papers, notebooks, folders, and odd items.\u00a0 Some of the items were worth saving.\u00a0 I set these aside on the bed for later.\u00a0 I had almost a full trash bag from this effort.<\/p>\n

Next, I went through the art that was leaning against the wall in portfolios.\u00a0 Some of the items were from art installations at college.\u00a0 Those weren\u2019t important to me.\u00a0 I planned to throw them out with the trash.\u00a0 I did find some examples of Rick\u2019s work that were worth saving.\u00a0 These went on the bed in my treasured pile.\u00a0 It was on to the desk next.\u00a0 I realized by this time that Rick is a Class A packrat.\u00a0 He comes by that genetically.<\/p>\n

I stopped in my efforts to go out and shovel snow with Rich.\u00a0 It was time to clear the slush and snow from the driveway and other areas.\u00a0 It was tough work since it weighed a ton.\u00a0 Sascha was running around wanting to play.\u00a0 I think she really wanted to go run, but we don\u2019t have a sled.<\/p>\n

Back in the house, I checked my phone and saw that Rick had texted me.\u00a0 He had stopped at the first oasis.\u00a0 The snow and sleet had changed to all rain the further south he went.\u00a0 That relieved my mind.\u00a0 I checked The Weather Channel to see what it looked like now.\u00a0 It appeared to be rain all the way to Holt.<\/p>\n

Rich was fixing dinner tonight.\u00a0 He had planned for jaeger schnitzel with noodles.\u00a0 This is hunter\u2019s sauce over breaded pork tenderloin.\u00a0 It was awesome.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Rich didn\u2019t make the homemade spatzel, but that was fine.\u00a0 In our house, the cook doesn\u2019t clean up.\u00a0 Normally, Rick would be doing this.\u00a0 Without him, it was up to me alone to clear dishes and load the dishwasher.\u00a0 Sascha was there to do her part though.<\/p>\n

Rick called right before dinner.\u00a0 It was good to hear his voice and know that he had made it safely to his destination.\u00a0 The roads weren\u2019t bad and he had made good time.\u00a0 His family in Michigan had welcomed him with open arms.\u00a0 Alex, Kelli, Erica and Joe have always been a second family to him.\u00a0 It was just for a week before he moved into the dorms.\u00a0 He has business to take care of on campus during the week and this would give him an opportunity to take care of that.\u00a0 Besides, Alex and Kelli could put him to work while he was there.<\/p>\n

After dinner, it was back to cleaning some more.\u00a0 I tackled the bookshelf.\u00a0 It was hard to decide what to keep here.\u00a0 Most of it was related to video games.\u00a0 I kept all of this as a reference to Rick.\u00a0 It was all about video games with him.\u00a0 I got the shelves organized and rearranged.\u00a0 There was even room to add more things up there.<\/p>\n

Now for the closet.\u00a0 I had avoided this because it looked like a large job.\u00a0 I opened a brand new trash bag and prepared to be ruthless.\u00a0 I sorted the clothes hanging in the closet and divided them between the Goodwill bag and the trash bag.\u00a0 The bottom of the closet looked dark and full of questionable things.\u00a0 I started to pull things out and judge what to do with them.\u00a0 It was the bucket of concrete with PVC pipes sticking up out of it.\u00a0 What the heck was this? \u00a0I sorted through the items and decided what to put back into the closet.\u00a0 The bucket of cement was not one of these.<\/p>\n

That was the end of Rick\u2019s room for the day.\u00a0 Rich was watching a western from the 1970s.\u00a0 I remembered this one.\u00a0 I was going back and forth from the living room and the movie to the office where I was doing Facebook and my family tree.\u00a0 Multitasking is one of my specialties.\u00a0 I posted family pictures to Zurekbrau.com for my cousins to look through.\u00a0 I was creating a cheat sheet for them to use when they reviewed the family photos.<\/p>\n

The next movie was not one I had seen before.\u00a0 This meant more traveling back and forth between the living room and the office.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t I just bring the computer out to the living room?\u00a0 Good question.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t for some strange reason.<\/p>\n

Sascha was trying to convince me to go to bed.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t tired.\u00a0 Rich and I hung out for a while, much to her disappointment.\u00a0 We watched a show and talked for a while longer.\u00a0 Finally about midnight, we gave up and headed to bed.\u00a0 Of course, that means we read first.\u00a0 Soon, it was lights out and off to dreamland.<\/p>\n

Sunday opened with snow and clouds.\u00a0 Darn, we\u2019ll need to shovel again!\u00a0 Where is that Rick when you really, really need him.\u00a0 I thought I had prepared myself for having to face life without him.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t like cold or snow.\u00a0 What did I sign up for here?<\/p>\n

Rich and I read the paper on our tablets and drank our coffee.\u00a0 When Rich got to the bottom of his cup, he wanted to yell out for a refill.\u00a0 However, there was no one around to get the refill, but me.\u00a0 Sascha sure wasn\u2019t going to do it.\u00a0 This was our first real crisis without Rick.\u00a0 We almost did rock, paper, scissor for who would get up.\u00a0 I relented and filled the cups.<\/p>\n

After breakfast and dishes, it was time to tackle that driveway. The snow was still coming down, but it was necessary to get the 2 or 3 inches up before it got worse.\u00a0 Sascha went out with us, but she was hanging out behind the garage watching the neighbors.\u00a0 The job was easier since it was light and fluffy snow.\u00a0 We managed to get the work done and back in the house.\u00a0 The temperature was dropping and the freezing cold was coming.<\/p>\n

I had Rich help me get the Christmas storage boxes down from the garage.\u00a0 I was able to pick up all of the decorations around the house in less than 30 minutes.\u00a0 The new tree was easy to disassemble and pack away.\u00a0 I held off on the outside decorations until tomorrow when it might be warmer.\u00a0 I would leave them in the garage to dry off for a while.\u00a0 Now I just need Rich to help me get the boxes back into the top of the garage again.\u00a0 I do miss Rick\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

So here I am at the end of Day 2 without Rick.\u00a0 I miss him a lot, but I\u2019m not as devastated as I thought I might be.\u00a0 I guess the prep over the last 21 years has helped after all.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have anyone to abuse by making them do all of the little things around here.\u00a0 I guess I can try to make Rich do it, but I just don\u2019t see that working out for me.<\/p>\n

We miss you, Rick\u00a0 Good luck with school and your new adventures.<\/p>\n

\"Rick's<\/a>
Rick’s life in containers for the trip.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"My<\/a>
My starting point in Rick’s room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rick's<\/a>
Rick’s room as he left it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bucket<\/a>
Bucket of concrete from Rick’s closet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sascha<\/a>
Sascha was wondering what this was about.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Snow<\/a>
Snow on Sunday morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Snow<\/a>
Snow on the deck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That day has finally come.\u00a0 On Saturday, Rick left for Michigan to begin the next chapter in his life. I got up early on Saturday and was settled into the red chair with Sascha reading the paper when Rick got up.\u00a0 He looked out the window at the inch or so of new snow on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3450,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions\/3450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}