The Hollands: Where the Heck Have we Been?

     I have no idea if anyone reads these posts or if I am being self-indulgent by writing blogs about me, me, me. In any case, if anyone is reading and has been wondering where I've been, my life turned totally upside down and sideways in the last 9 months!
     I accepted the job with the company I interviewed with in Washington, D.C. and Nick and I moved to the east coast in June! Sounds simple, huh? The reality was anything but...I had movers come and pack us up, load the truck and move our things to a storage facility someplace in Virginia. Then I had to arrange for an auto transport company to move my second vehicle (Honda Passport) to Virginia. Once all of that was done, I had to figure out how to pack enough clothes for me and Nick for a month, the two dogs, our cat, Willie, Nick's PlayStation, and other necessities in my Volkswagen Beetle for the 1000 mile drive from Arkansas to Virginia. The drive was uneventful, but LONG!!!
     I keep saying Virginia because for the first month of our new adventure on the east coast, we were living in a high-rise apartment building in Arlington, VA while I looked for permanent accommodations. We eventually ended up in Maryland, but the Virginia apartment was a nice experience. We arrived here on a Sunday and I had to report to work the very next day. Nick had his PlayStation, so he was happy, but I was concerned and feeling guilty about leaving him alone all day in a strange place. He adapted beautifully and I began my new job. The dogs figured out they had to go up and down in an elevator before they could go outside. That was a pain!! Taking two dogs for a walk at 5:30 in the AM is NOT fun, especially when they are not used to doing their business while being walked. Eventually they got the idea and that became a much faster process.
     We are now living in a 4th floor walk-up In North Bethesda (formerly Rockville). The apartment is nice (the stairs...not so much), but it was not my first choice. I put a deposit on a 2-bedroom town house in Chevy Chase and about a week before my corporate housing time was going to end, I found out that we didn't get the town house. I didn't have much time to look around, so I rented the apartment we're in pretty quickly. It is a great apartment, but hindsight being 20-20, I could have found something just as nice for (a lot) less money. Thanks goodness the grocery store delivers, so when I need to do a large shopping, I place an order on-line and the groceries are brought to the door. Pretty cool!!! (The stairs are a pain, but bringing groceries up is HORRIBLE).

Great Falls, MD

Nick loves his new school which is pretty funny considering he complained very loudly and consistently to whomever would listen about how he did NOT want to move here. He has a lot of friends and loves being close to D.C. Most weekends we spend at least 1 day exploring museums, or walking around the monuments, etc. He is really liking all there is to do here.

Nick at the Washington Monument

My step-dad, Wayne Stone, passed away in November. He had successfully battled throat cancer the previous year and then was given a diagnosis of lung cancer. He fought as much as he could and then it was done. He spent some time in hospice, which was a fantastic experience for all of us, before passing away. Nick and I flew out with the dogs and were able to spend some time with him before he died. I'd like to think he knew we were there, but only God knows the answer to that. He didn't suffer and thankfully, for both him and my mom, he didn't linger either. We had a small service in Hot Springs, and then his brother demanded that he be buried in a cemetery in Tennessee near his Aunt Willie's farm. We weren't thrilled, but because Wayne never definitively said what he wanted, my mom allowed Uncle Tommy to have his way. Frankly, it was so stressful and upsetting that we didn't want to fight with him about it. Nick and I were able to stay in Arkansas about 2 weeks, but I had to get back to work and Nick back to school. It's been hard on my mom, but she has her place up for sale, so hopefully we'll be able to be together again soon!
Christmas was spent in Virgina with my Dad and step-mother. It was sad for me and Nick not to be with my mom, but there was no way we could go back to Arkansas after having been there for so long in November. We had a fun Christmas and I think being in a different place with different people made it more bearable since it came so quickly after Wayne's death. I hadn't spent a Christmas with my dad since I was 15, so I enjoyed the time this year especially. We had a really good time!!

Christmas - 2012

It is now the end of March. Winter is trying to hang on, but there are signs of spring popping up all over. I am looking forward to the cherry blossoms and I've promised Nick a weekend trip to New York once the weather is nicer. I'll try to be more consistent with this blog. As I wrote previously, I don't know if anyone reads these, but it's nice to have a record of what is happening in our lives.