These days, after the passing of Bill I've been very reflective of our past years together.
This video that I'm posting today is a video copy of an 8mm film compilation that Bill and I made of our previous home in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. We had our home built on 6.875 acres of wooded land in 1980. This home was to be our dream home. We planned to spend the rest of our lives in this home but that dream was cut short by the ever increasing Pennsylvania school taxes we could no longer afford to pay.
In this video you will see me refer to getting ready to spend two weeks in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. At that time I was scheduled to house and cat sit for two women who were going to spend a few months in the winter in Florida golfing.
I don't remember seeing this video before. I just watched it which brought back a lot of fond memories of the wonderful house that we had in Pennsylvania. I will harbor a resentment against Pennsylvania for taxing us out of our wonderful Pennsylvania home the rest of my life. So many of my Delaware neighbors moved here from several high tax Eastern states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey (even worse than Pennsylvania), and New York.
Watching this video reminds me of how much I miss my longtime friend Bob McCamley (we met when we were in Army together in 1960). Bob died in 2013 of Parkinson's Disease.
It's interesting seeing both me and Bill when we were much healthier. I could walk like a normal person. Look at me going up the stairs. I could actually do it on my own. Now I struggle. Even walking on even surfaces I struggle. I like the exchanges between me and Bill, the little digs at me when he says "junk". I do tend to accumulate.
Watching this video I am also reminded of my ponds. Oh how I miss those ponds. They were self filtering and crystal clear. I have a pond here but I don't have an electrical pond filter here. My ponds here aren't so clear but the goldfish who inhabit them are happy and reproducing. I refresh the pond water here with a hose from my well. Interesting I always used to say "we" when referring to anything around this house but since Bill is no longer with me, I have to get used to saying "my", which always causes me sadness.
This video is long. You're not required to watch it of course. But I do want to post all my videos that I had made from our many 8mm films. I have them all in my You Tube account now under "Private" but since I don't plan to be around much longer in this world, I figure I better make them "Public" so there is a history for anyone who is interested in my time on this planet.
I'm cleaning up things folks for my eventual Final Exit. Maybe some distant relative in the future will be interested. I hop so . If not, well I tried. One thing I do know now is than none of my relatives now are interested. Not even one of my twenty-four nieces and nephews. Which is sad but it is what it is.
14 comments:
I am having a quiet afternoon at home Ron and quite enjoyed that tour~!!!!
Thanks
Julie
Love the home location in Downingtown. Love the woods. Makes one feel that you are away from it all but so close to town.
You do have a lot of "stuff." I have all my belongings in an 832-square-foot condo and a storage closet-size of coat closet-in the basement. I have paired down over the years. I was never much of a hoarder. I do have all my military uniforms, things, and papers. Can't forget my Christmas decorations. I started to sort through my papers box when I moved my furniture out of storage and just gave up and closed the box. I don't like every corner/surface of my condo covered with tchotchkes. I am lean but with reason.
Oh yes, I found the pictures of Pat's home and that thing is tight. Yeah, one can find anything on the internet these days. I love a good Google search. I could live in Pat's sized home with conditions. For one I need storage. Not a lot but enough to store things away. I hate clutter. I would say it would have to be between 500-600 square feet. The size of a 5-star hotel room. It has to be laid out correctly. Pat's layout is weird. My question is where to place a television in Pat's living room. The kitchen eating area seems to separate from the kitchen and away from everything else. I never liked big kitchens. Just enough drawers and cabinets to store things. A standard-sized oven is a must. I don't need a dishwasher. What is up with that bedroom? I would see if I could carve out extra space in the basement and make it liveable. I support Pat's lean idea of living BUT a little tchotchkes here and there to make it look like home and with personality and not corporate housing. It appears Pat's location is walkable. I did look at other places in his price range and size and found a few alternatives.
I hope you are doing well. Glad to read you are keeping busy and enjoying life.
Take care. Have a great weekend.
That’s a nice looking place you had in Pennsylvania, densely wooded with very tall trees. It’s too bad you had to give it up but you have a nice place where you are now, just very different. I enjoyed watching the video, especially the tour inside the house, it was really big. Did you have that house built, were you its first residents? It was sure full of stuff, things, what Bill kept calling junk. Did all that stuff make it to Delaware or was a lot of it disposed of? I’ll check out the other videos when you make them public. Thanks for posting this one.
Jim
Take care of yourself, take time, no people experience this the same way, however you experience loss, is your way.
I really enjoyed the video, Ron. That was a huge home and very comfortable. I can truly see your resentment in having to leave it d/t
taxes. That's a bummer. You and Bill had a lot of things. Did everything get packed and moved or did you downsize some? I can't imagine packing all the things you had. You moved like a gazelle up those stairs! LOL! Something I don't do anymore, either! A little slower and hope the feet remain on the ground! Take care.
Paranormal John
Yes this is so: the current generations are generally not interested but the future ones are.
Do it for their sake.
Juiie A.
Glad you enjoyed the tour. It was a long one. I was concerned that posting it would bore some of my blog readers to tears.
Ron
Vic,
Pat has a few tchotchkes. I have LOTS that I've collected over the years. Some I have parted ways with but most of them that I still have trigger fond memories so I'm to getting rid of them.
Pat's location is ideal, right in the center of Hamilton. Perfect for him because he likes to be where all the action is but without the high monthly maintenance charge that was killing him at the Royal Connaught Hotel penthouse condo that he owned.
Like you I don't need a dishwasher (never have) but one must have one if one ever intends to sell one's house. Pat does't need a dishwasher either. I too can live with a small kitchen (I had a Pullman type kitchen at our Philadelphia townhouse). I like the open concept that I have now
This house is perfect for me now. I will die here. When I leave it will be like when Bill left, on a stretcher.
Ron
Paranormal John,
Both Bill and I loved our house in Pennsylvania. It was perfect, set back from the road and very private.Yes, we had it built. After we lived in it for a few years though I realized that it wasn't laid out exactly right for us. For one thing I didn't have enough bathrooms. Only two and a half. Since Bill had his own bedroom he had his own bathroom. That was a problem when we had company (which wasn't often). They either had to use Bill's bathroom or mine. Here I have FOUR bathroom. Perhaps too much but at least I can have company (like the next two months) and I don't have to concern myself which bathroom my guests will use.
Even though our Pennsylvania house wasn't laid out exactly right for us (expensive to heat and air condition) we had planned to spend the rest of our lives there. But the taxes just became too expensive. Delaware is on to something with its low taxes Not only are many corporations headquartered in Delaware, so many tax refuges from neighboring state like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York have retired to Delaware. Better weather too!
Ron
Jim,
Whoops! I got your comment mixed up with Paranormal John's. My apologies. Yes, we had a lot of "stuff" in our Pennsylvania house. And yes, we moved it all. Only got rid of the living room furniture, which I regret now because it was classic Mid-Century modern. Oh well. Moving we had to use TWO huge moving trucks. Cost over $5000. I'm slowly downsizing now but much of the "stuff" I'm keeping because they give me comfort and trigger fond memories. And me "going up the stairs like a gazelle." Had to believe isn't it. I don't go up the stars like that now. I struggle. I am a pitiful sight to behold now.
Ron
Ur-spo,
You are so right. The current generation is not interested at all in family history but I suspect future generations will be interested in all my work on my family history. That's what keeps me going.
Ron
David (Travel),
I'm slowly coming to terms with Bill's loss. I do find comfort in the fact that he is no longer suffering like he wss the past few years. He was only staying here for me. He sacrificed so much for me. Such love few people are fortunate to have. I an so thankful for him.
Ron
There is no time line for grief. I think if you were over missing Bill already then you didn’t have much of a relationship.
Karen,
Bill was the love of my life, literally. I am diminished without him. I will adjust. However, I am so thankful that I had him in my life for as long as I did. I was one of the lucky ones to have had Bill's love for as long as I did. And I loved him equally if not more in return.
Ron
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