No Longer Anonymous

I enjoy anonymity.  Now don't get me wrong, I thoroughly love interacting and conversing with people, but I like to go about my business without knowing people are watching me.  I think this could be the result of growing up as a pastor's daughter.  A PK lives in a glass house and everyone takes note of what you're doing.

In the last two places I've lived, I was fairly anonymous.  Wausau was a small city where few people knew or cared what I was up to.  Spirit Lake was a much smaller town, but had so many transplants that there didn't seem to be the gossip you find in more rural areas.

We're no longer anonymous here.  I learned this when I made my first hospice visit.  I was chatting with the patient and a nurse came in to give her some meds.  I was in the middle of telling Louise that we weren't originally from Beloit when the nurse pipes up and asks, "So are you the ones who moved downtown?"  Her husband also works for AGCO so she knew all about us.

The next day one of Jeff's co-workers asked if I was much younger than he is.  I am. So of course Jeff wondered why he was asking and he mentioned he saw me at the railroad tracks the night before.  I had hopped in the car to try to get out of town to take some photos of a beautiful storm system, but a train came to a complete stop right in the middle of town.  Jeff's co-worker must have been in a vehicle ahead of me that turned around when this happened.  He recognized Jeff's car with out-of-state plates and a "young" woman driving it.

It's almost creepy.  People we don't know, know what we're up to.  It's a town where everyone knows everyone's business. Now of course that can be a positive thing when you want someone checking up on your child, but on the other hand it can lead to some unnecessary gossip (okay, all gossip is unnecessary).   This is just a bit of an adjustment for me.  I think I've been a bit too aloof in the past.  I just need to warm up to the idea that in a small town everyone can be spies friends. Or I could come up with a closet full of disguises so I can continue to live my life in anonymity.  Whatever happened to that blond wig I had . . . 

Relax . . . You're In Kansas Now

Prior to our move we had major issues with our moving van.  I prepared a quote that Budget provided several weeks prior to our move as Jeff's company needed an estimate.  When we received the go-ahead and I went to make the reservation the price had significantly increased.  We made the reservation anyway and decided we would just cover the difference.  Then three days before our move Budget called to tell us they had cancelled our reservation as they didn't have a moving van for us.  The chastised Jeff for not reading the fine print when we made the reservation.  Silly us, we assumed they would have a truck for us when all we were actually doing was locking in the amount they would charge us IF they could find a truck for us.  Lesson learned:  never use Budget again. 

Our other option was U-Haul.  Jeff explained the situation to the kind reservation agent and we were able to make the reservation on short notice.  Jeff confirmed with them that they would indeed guarantee a truck for us.  Everything was in order.  We even received two confirmation emails and it provided all the necessary details.  All details were correct.  When U-Haul didn't call to confirm the reservation on Sunday evening, I encouraged Jeff to call them instead.  He did.  The agent stated we were all set to pick up our truck in Des Moines, not Spirit Lake.  Our confirmation emails had said pick-up in Spirit Lake and this is what Jeff had confirmed with the agent.  Des Moines was nearly a four hour drive one-way and too far for us to consider driving to.  I tried not to panic inside, but it was very disconcerting to learn of this the morning before our move.  Jeff was able to contact the local company in Spirit Lake and thank the Lord, they had received a cancellation the day before and had a 26' truck sitting in their lot.  God came through for us in nick of time. 

After unloading the U-Haul in Beloit, we cut it a little close when it came to returning the truck.  Our deadline was about 9:49 AM.  I had looked up the location on Google Maps and told Jeff where I thought the U-Haul drop-off was.  It appeared to be about five blocks from where we moved to.  Jeff got in the truck and I was behind him in the Tahoe with Abby.  We took off and drove the direction I thought was correct.  Soon the road ended.  We turned around and headed the opposite direction.  When that appeared to be residential and a dead-end I pulled the Tahoe over and made a call to U-Haul.  I explained we were unable to find the drop-off location and asked for the local number.    Unfortunately Jeff didn't have his phone with him.  When I pulled over he continued driving.  By the time I ended my phone call and had dialed the local number I had completely lost him.  He was wandering around Beloit somewhere in a 26' U-Haul truck. 

With about two minutes till our deadline I called the local U-Haul number.  I explained to the man that we were trying to return our U-Haul truck and that I had lost my husband in the midst of losing our way and that I was concerned we would be late.  I asked if there was any way he could waive the late fee since we had gotten lost.  I think I probably gulped all these words out in one breath as I was slightly stressed and I absolutely hate wasting money.  The kind local on the other line said, "Don't worry ma'am.  You're in God's country now.  I don't care if you return your truck tomorrow at noon.  I won't charge you any extra."  Whew.  What a relief.  And a reminder that I need to slow down just a bit now that I'm here in Kansas.  What's the rush?