Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Leaping From the Shoulders of Giants

Today I wanted to take a break from sharing all of the newness and the goodness we're finding around us and step back a bit and examine our whole enterprise at a much larger scale.

It's frankly amazing to me that we're here at all.

And when it boils right down to it, there really is no way we could have pulled off this mad mission if it hadn't been for a tremendous amount of support and hard work from those we love and who loves us back. This post is meant to be, in the lexicon of those half my age, a "shout out to all our homies" for solids done, support given and moves-to-NZ enabled. I could say "you know who you are" but that'd be a cop out.

Thank you mom and Ed for taking our pets and buying our van. Having our pets still in the family removed the heart-crushing blows of having to place them with families or subject them to months of shipping, quarantine and puppy-and-kitty-torture.

Thank you Ruth and Tim and Alex and Ember for storing our sentimental bits that we couldn't part with but didn't want to move. Knowing that my Apple IIe is safely tucked away saves me having to come to terms with how useless it is and that I should have chucked it years ago. Thank you for taking our various remnants with the intent of having continued garage sales of your own. Without your help in removing and dealing with the last bits of our belongings we couldn't have possibly gotten on the plane when we did!

Thank you Ruth and Sharon for helping us purge and organize our garage sale and hawking our useless crap to unsuspecting neighbors. You both came through for us hardcore during a time when we were overwhelmed by a tidal wave our of various and sundries and fighting to keep our heads above water.

Thank you Patty and family for letting us borrow your car(s) and for taking our children so we can knuckle-down on a few things here and there. Your generosity---especially during a time of crisis---is more than any friends could have asked for.

Thank you Sharon and Tim for helping us get to the airport and sending us off.

The list goes on and on. Without the support of all of you and more than I can even think to list right now, we'd not be here at all.

I just want you all to know that our even being here is a testament to your hard work, love and friendship and that we really are incredibly amazingly lucky to have you all.

8 comments:

Patois42 said...

Can it really be two weeks already since you left? Thank God for having children, which speeds up the clock so damn fast. Why, at this rate, you'll be back for a visit in no time at all.

Cathy Ezrailson, Science Education, University of South Dakota said...

I can hardly believe that you have been gone such a little time and yet have explored so much of your new home. We are saving our pennies to come visit you so maybe they (and the time) will acrue and pass rapidly.
As for the pets, we are loving them more each day and have a menagerie in our bedroom every night. Lucky is giving us exercise and humorous antics to laugh at and with.

The cats calm us in the evening but sitting in or next to our laps and meowing to let us know where we are. Noah's new collar has a bell but Sprocket's new embroidered collar(with his name and phone number) hasn't come in yet.

The van now has South Dakota plates and title and is clean outside if not in, yet as our weather is just now warming into the 50s and 60s with only intermittent early morning snowfall.Shannon -- our " Native American girl Friday will detail it soon as her annual "Pow-pow" event was this last weekend.

Actually, we return to SD on Sunday after a 10-day jaunt to the East Coast where the weather is a little warmer and spring flowers abound. I visited the orchid show in Willmington, DE with my sister-in-law, Phyllis and it was lovely.

We all love the blogs and enjoy very much being a vicarious vistor to N-ZED. Love you all. Keep writing the marvously poignant blogs that keep us enthralled.

Mom

Anonymous said...

Ruth says: Aw shucks! You are welcome. Payback came in the form of $120 at Sat garage sale and getting to talk with our friends and neighbors while sitting in the sunshing, playing Settlers of Catan on your old round outdoor table (that Tim made). I am also enjoying the N-Zed show! Love ya! Ruth

ParagonX said...

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

ParagonX said...

JUST TESTING

ParagonX said...

My pay bak came in da form of STING !!(thanks a lot)!!! And i hope u guys r doing well in the search for homes! And i will usually comment in the form of paragonx, not alex. Just a warning. And if u guys see the places where The Lord of the Rings was filmed,... take some pics for me(please).Luv and miss u guys, wish u all da luk u need(and more)!!! :) :) :)

Unknown said...

see. im paragon now. :)

Anonymous said...

FROM EMBER... i miss you so much!!!! sounds like your having fun.i love you so much!i can't wait to hear more about your new adventures!!! the pictures are so cool. it does look sort of like san francisco. IIIIIIIIIIII MMMMiiiiiisssssss youuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't wait to talk to you again soon. BY!!!