Over the past six years I’ve personally moved 9 times, I’ll break it down for you. Shortly after my youngest graduated high school in 2018 we, (my wife at the time), decided to move to Petoskey. We had an apartment picked out, paid the application fee, and hold fee, about $150 total. When we arrived our Uhaul was packed, the storage unit we rented ended up holding all our stuff, but the apartment…not so much. It was a third-floor walkup without an elevator, I was almost 49 and wasn’t having it. I ended up renting a small house in Harbor Springs, (losing the $150 and putting out $2000 for rent and deposit), but with a catch, the landlord would be staying with us in about a month, (Buck was his name, RIP), move number 1. We truly didn’t want to live with this man, (I ended up liking him later). When the duplex next door opened, a three-bedroom, we took it, move number 2. Divorce happened about six months later, seven months after that I moved to an apartment in Hancock that was in a good location and was what I needed; move number 3. I then moved to Summit Street to finish the remodel, move number 4. I sold that house to my daughter and moved to Chassell, move number 5. My daughter then decided that my new house would suit them better, they, (her and her husband), resulted in them buying my house and myself moving back to Summit Street, move number 6. From there I fled the state and moved in with a girlfriend in Minocqua Wisconsin, move number 7. Five months later with that relationship ending I moved to Wakefield, move number 8. Move number 9 is back to Wisconsin in a small town to have my hobby farm; now on to move number 10.
This time I’m not moving but rather I’m moving my mother in with me…sort of. I’m renovating a camper into a cabin for her to live in for probably 9-10 months out of the year, (unless I do a truly great job and it’s winterized). This came about because finding senior housing isn’t easy. My bad joke is that people are dying to get out of that housing, and truthfully, it’s death or a move to a nursing home that creates the openings. The problems are the waitlists, and leases. We attempted, thought we had one lined up, but it fell through at the same time a new lease would have to be signed at her current place, and that’s just not going to work.
My situation may change but for now it’s about giving mom a different life for the rest of hers, one with chickens, gardens, and backyard campfires. Now I’ve been asked, why not just move her into your place? I have two bedrooms and work from home. My significant other and daughter may be moving, and they will need the space, plus with working from home I do need privacy due to the confidential nature of my day job and the live content from teaching. By the time you all read this I’ll have a good portion of the camper renovation done, (a beautiful 1983 23-footer), and have 90% of the move completed as she’ll be living in my place until the camper is done. My thoughts for the day are; once parents are gone the silence will be unbearable, use the time you have with them before time runs out. Check out my new content on YouTube, search for the Upnorthminimalist there and everywhere. foremanbrian4@gmail.com
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