The pace of life has slowed here at the RV Vagabonds; we've visited with family and gotten away from the house for a while. The garage still needs to be cleaned out and I have to start tagging items to price them to sell once the house sells. Notice that I phrased that positively? Because we're sure it will sell this year--after all, we buried St. Joseph in the backyard, as well as in the extra lot we have up for sale. When the realtor wrote the blurb for the house, he described it as being in "mint condition" which says a lot for all the work Denny, Connie and I put into it. It's nice to know that it is noticeable.

In the midst of the celebration of getting the house finished we were notified that we lost an uncle to diabetes and Alzheimers this weekend. It has been a difficult year for us as we've lost so many friends, co-workers and family members. That knowledge makes Denny and I grateful that we've had so many years to pursue our passion for travel and exploring new places. We may have to put down roots for a while if tests show that my mother is no longer capable of living alone, but Denny and I are both healthy and we feel that there are a few more years of travel left in us no matter how long we may have to hang up the RV keys.

This is the first time I've not had our winter itinerary planned months in advance. The only reservation we have at the moment is a month at Myrtle Beach and then we'll come back to Ohio for my mother's cataract surgery in early December. After that, there are no plans. That feels strange and some of it is avoidance. I know that my mother will probably need someone to live with her or at least nearby. Camping in Ohio in the wintertime would not be fun, but living in a closed up house with my mother while she stills smokes over a pack of cigarettes a day is not an option--there's too much lung cancer in Denny's family to subject him (or me)to her second-hand smoke. For now I'm living in the moment but sooner or later I'm going to have to come to a decision on what we're going to do. Procrastination is the word of the day. Sigh.