July 20: Mom is finally moving out of her apartment on the East side of Cleveland. This is after living alone for over 1 1/2 years while dad is in a nursing home. My mission, and I accepted it gladly, was to pack Mom, hence the name of the mission! Brother Tom has stacked up about 100 sturdy boxes in Mom’s guest room so I promised Mom we’ll go through shelf by shelf, drawer by drawer and get everything into boxes before I leave. We touch everything. I fold and Mom looks through and I see her refolding…. Things must be washed before packing… Damp clothes fill the apartment… There are piles with labels…"winter clothes," "summer clothes," "Salvation Army," "garage sale," etc etc. I label every box carefully so nothing will be lost. Today was hot and then it rained like a son of a gun with hail! I managed to get the first load of clothes to the Salvation Army before being pelted with Cleveland’s finest! Hail and rain. I really love Cleveland! Packing Mom’s things is a delicate and decidedly chancy unmarked mine field. Whatever is missing will be my fault! If Mom gets nervous… I feel guilty! So I move through this mission gently, quietly, slowly in a an orderly and stealthy fashion! Anyone who knows me is thinking Susie can’t do this! Orderly? quietly? without screaming??? our Susie? Yep! I will emerge on the other side of this a new woman! Tomorrow… the closet shelf!!!! Love Susie!
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