Today sure is a helluva lot better than yesterday was! I’m not as pissed at whatever’s up there, but I still worry it’s going to mess with us at the new place. That’s ok, though. I’d rather things go wrong there than here, and “there” is exactly where we’re going tomorrow!

When Tom didn’t get a reply from Brenda yesterday evening when he emailed her asking about the keys, we figured she’d already taken off for the holiday. Turns out she replied right after he crashed, which was early as usual. She said we’d get the keys on Friday as soon as the wire transfer went through! So this is our last day here! It BETTER be anyway, cuz if there are any more delays I swear we’ll sue!

It gets better. When Tom was going through the kitchen drawer he found one of the gas gift cards from the camping prize pack I won a while back. He figured there were just a few cents on it but when he checked online he found it had $100! So once we get to the new place we get about a month of free gas! I hadn’t even been up for an hour and already the day was going great! I updated my closest buddies, of course, like Andy and Nane.

Yesterday I was so bummed out to think we might not get out of here till next week and I even said to Tom, “I should’ve known whatever’s up there was just out to scare us a couple of years ago and that it wouldn’t really drive us to our deaths. Like we could ever lose a place we didn’t want to be in?”

Then when I woke up tired at 7am this morning, it sucked to know I had to get up early for at least 4 more days. But tomorrow I can sleep in cuz it may not be till 5pm when he gets here with the truck and keys. There are 3 places he can go in case the first one doesn’t have a truck available. He thinks it will take 2 hours to load and 2 to unload. I think it’ll take 3 to load and 2 to unload.

I can’t wait to have so much space and two bathrooms! I can’t wait to have a fast Internet connection, too! Nothing good comes easy to us and we may always have to fight for things, but we do get them in the end. Most of them anyway.

I can’t wait to be able to go back to work. Gonna get back into sweeping, work the Turk, and get on with my writing. I know I could’ve done my writing anywhere, even here with a shitty connection, but it was just too hard to focus on anything but getting out of here.

Now it’s time to get on with our lives and on to new worries for me, like will I be able to sleep ok there? Will it be as peaceful as I hope it is during the daytime? I’m still nervous as I am excited. It’s going to take time getting used to being surrounded by so many people after years of being isolated in the woods.

Tom just came in to say that instead of getting the connection that’s 30 times faster, the one we’re getting (at least for the first few months when it’s cheapest) is 80 times faster. OMG! Don’t know what time this shit connection’s going to be shut down tomorrow, but if it’s earlier, and if I don’t get a chance to check in from the new place, I’ll do so as soon as I can.

It’s so cool to finally have a date and know that tonight will be the last time we sleep here. Tomorrow will be the last time I shower here. That is as long as the propane doesn’t run out. We haven’t heard the tank fire up in days now which probably means it’s on its way out.

I’ll probably be too excited to sleep that late, so as soon as I can I’ll jump up and do the last-minute preparations. I can’t wait!

Meanwhile, I’ll just read, listen to music, and enjoy the last of the groceries we picked up this morning.

Later…

Although I would never want to be the guy’s friend again any more than Kevin’s “Nervous” if he were still alive, I tried looking up Fran P, a crazy guy I knew back in Springfield. I just get curious at times as to who’s doing what and where. But it was like the guy didn’t exist. Because he was crazy, crazy enough to throw a glass bottle at a cruiser as he told me he once did, I figured there was a possibility he could be in prison.

Maybe even for rape. During the brief time Andy lived with me in my Springfield apartment back in the early 90s, he was out somewhere when Fran started getting a little too close for comfort. Suddenly Andy came in from wherever he’d been and I found myself feeling a sense of relief I’d never before felt with Fran even though I’d been alone with him enough times in the past. Who knows how far he’d have gone if Andy hadn’t come in when he did, though I probably could’ve fought the crazy fuck off.

Oh, the people I would be quick to be friends with back then. It seems like I’d be anyone’s friend. I had zero discrimination. But eventually, people taught me just how phony and cruel they can be and I became picky about who I’d associate with. Had I met Fran and Nervous in my late 20s, there’s no way in hell I’d bother with them.

Anyway, tomorrow’s the day Fran died back in 2011, though I don’t know why. He was 48, just a year older than me. I don’t miss him and I don’t feel bad that he died relatively young, but I definitely settled my curiosity.