After having opened the house for Lorand of Quality Carpet Cleaners we wiled away the three hours he said it would take to clean the place by doing some piddling shopping at Walmart then insinuated ourselves into the cloistered urban garden of Lapointe’s Restaurant for a summer evening meal.  The weather was ideal for al fresco dining, a relieving breeze after a hot day, expressive cloud formations and a clear azure sky.  The crescent moon was remarkably silver even early in the evening.  As we waited for our martinis to arrive we indolently stared at a sparrow ripping leaves from the nearby trees presumably for a nest and marvelled at nature’s genetics.  A bold chipmunk scampered to and fro on the patio, darting between tables and back into the peripheral bushes.

Our leisure was well earned.  The day had been spent with the realtor staging the house for sale.  We had afterwards shopped for a few items for my mother’s new apartment. The carpet cleaning was the penultimate duty.  After that we went downtown to mother’s apartment to deliver the stores to her.  I am fully satisfied that all the effort put into relocating mother from her house to the apartment is not only justified but well executed.  I can’t think of any better arrangement for her on the heels of her 89th birthday.  The choreography of the move represents to me a signal accomplishment and one which I felt the necessity to celebrate.

I am smug about other things too.  Everything about the management of our personal affairs leaves me glowing as well.  As I have lately been wont to remind my mother over her constant objections to the move to an apartment, we have practiced what we preach.  It is a spin-off of my mother’s move that our own little apartment will be the beneficiary of prized possessions arising from my mother’s downsizing; viz., several original oil paintings, a small mahogany side table, an elegant Persian rug and a magnificent Sligh grandfather clock.  The clock is a tremendous gift for me as I adore time pieces.  Oddly it was my sister and her husband who bought the clock for my mother but neither of them wanted it.

It pleases me also that my sister and her husband will be getting some fine Canadiana from my mother’s collection.  I have no doubt that they are as delighted as we are to have the new acquisitions.  My sister is making some fairly drastic changes to accommodate the pieces.  She seems not only content but also enthusiastic to swap certain of her furnishings for the ones from my mother’s place.  Because we have inherited far fewer items our only adjustment is relocating some furnishings and paintings within the apartment though considering its small size the task was not without its challenges. Although I hated to disturb what we had originally done I am confident that when the grandfather clock arrives it will all fit together properly.

Lest my focus upon material things disguises my deeper sentiments I know we are lucky to enjoy good health.  All around us people are succumbing to illnesses, each of them coming entirely unexpectedly (a reminder of how quickly our tread upon the flowery paths of prosperity can change to the sear and yellow leaf of old age).  Likewise I recall the advantage of my father having lived to 95 years of age and that the remainder of my immediate family and those dearest to me are yet whinnying among us.  It is the conglomerate of these important features which lend a decided bounce to my step every day.  It is no small bonus that we anticipate our departure to Hilton Head Island, SC for the winter; and that we may be doing it on a new set of wheels.