I never thought that I would want a summer month like June to be over, but this year I am.  I have
tried to overcome some of the things that June has given me with a trip to Nags Head and the beach.  Although it was glorious there, it was for only one
day.

I guess I am not enjoying the month because I am older now and every mishap in my life causes pain – whether physical or emotional. I moved to a little cottage that some friends offered me. They needed a caretaker and I needed a cheap place to live. 
This move has become the major stress of my life, and this little cottage is forcing me to remember how to do things that I have not done in 30 years.  Now when you are 30, little mishaps are just that – little. 
When you are in your 60’s and handicapped those little mishaps become major problems that must be dealt with no matter the cost or the needed repair.

I had my oil changed and the people there said my front tires were wearing and needed watching. 
Less than 24 hours later I had a flat on the road at the edge of nowhere (I live in the middle of nowhere). Luckily, a friend was with me and her brother was more than happy to find us and put on my donut tire to get me to the nearest tire company.  
 
We also had a tropical storm that popped the remaining screens on the screened porch. A guy at Lowe’s said if they were old (rotted old) that I
would not be able to repair them. (The house is over 50 years old and a little neglected.) Because the porch is screened, none of the windows or three sliding glass doors that open to the porch have screens.  I had to reach back in my memory to over
30 years ago to remember the expandable screens I used then; I bought some at Lowe’s.  They are called mobile home screens now.

The window air conditioner in the living room cannot run because a fuse (old knob and tool) has blown and I cannot see which one it is. I have not had knob and tool fuses since I was in my thirties and bought an old beach house. The fuse box was quickly replaced after it caught fire when I tried to
run a space heater. And this morning another window air conditioner (bedroom) had a warning light on it.  After succeeding to get down to see it, I saw it was the filter light. Evidently it has never been cleaned and the few times I have used it
clogged it up.  Luckily, the internet has instructions for replacing/cleaning the filter. So it has been
cleaned and we will see what happens tonight.

 So now I have added June’s problems to the previous months’, i.e., snakes, buzzards on the roof, the refrigerator icemaker leaking and flooding the kitchen floor for 5 days, the roof leaking in the living room and kitchen, the faucets in the bathroom and kitchen dripping constantly, the exorbitant cost of baseboard heating for a house with no insulation and a “open air” remodeling job in the back, the feeling of isolation in the winter since this is a “summer” place and there are no neighbors, having to take the trash to the dump because the little town does not pick up trash in the middle of nowhere, and a cable company that cannot get the phone or internet to work after 5 months of trying.

If I live through this experience, and I do not think that the problems are over, I will be so glad to move to a small one bedroom place with no upkeep problems.  I am thinking of going south so I will not have large heat bills.  
 
I guess you could look at this as a test for how an older person adapts.  Although it feels like
hell, I seem to be adapting and overcoming these “little mishaps.”  Keep your fingers crossed that I can continue to do so. 

It has been a while since I posted and the reason, mainly, is I have been looking for my new purpose (see previous post). As I have said before, I moved for financial reasons to a little town in North Carolina. This has been a big “change” for me since I do not even live in the little town. I live in the country with trees, wheat fields, and corn fields as scenery, snakes, buzzards, and muskrats as visitors, and cows, pigs, and goats for neighbors. I have been a “big city” girl my whole life and this has been a really big change.

However, my whole adult life has been about change. I have looked back and realized that even before I left my hometown of Memphis, TN, I was moving constantly to different parts of the city to
live.  When I decided to leave Memphis in my 30’s and moved to Charleston, SC, I did not realize that this move would set into action my “gypsy” ways. I then relocated about every 2 to 3 years to a city where I knew no one.  Friends asked me what I was running away from and my answer was I was running toward adventure, aka change.  As a result, I have met some wonderful people whom I still call friends, and I have had many adventures exploring my new cities.

Well, it appears I have started those gypsy ways again, only this time I am a senior with some disabilities and a limited income. That is a big change from my younger years when I was armed with certifications and technical abilities that procured me viable working opportunities. 
Now, although I still have those certifications and abilities, I am also a senior citizen.  Doors of opportunities do
no open as readily.

Here comes my new change. This one is a little more frightening. It is going to take more investigation and exploration to find a “change” that makes me happy.  I have looked at some of those options that are available.

Possibilities include a new charity project, going to church activities more regularly, joining and attending a senior center’s activities, and starting to paint, write, or even attend classes at a university. Whatever I do, it really must be more than “killing time.”  I must find a “change” in my new life that will stimulate and challenge me for the time I have left.  
 
Although some seniors are adverse to change, I hope they realize, as I have, that change can be wonderful. Staying where you are in your comfort zone might prevent you from experiencing a new and exciting older life.  What was good for you when you were younger might not be the ticket for your senior years. I am challenging you to change something in your life, if you can. You might be surprised, after the terror wears off, how invigorating change can be.