LyrehcWorld

What a fantastic trip!!  It wasn’t a vacation, and we didn’t do any sight-seeing, but it was an absolutely amazing 10 days in Helen!  Doug and I both worked, and our crazy schedules sure did make seeing each other challenging, but we found time in between everything else.  I couldn’t get internet at the camper, so I had to go to the local grocery store to work… sometimes for 13 hours straight.  I never sat in a grocery store that long, but it had a nice cafe area, with a Starbucks and free wifi.  Perfect!    The camper only has a small shower and enough hot water for a three minute shower, so I did most of my showering at the bath house at the front of the campground.

None of this bothered me.  It was perfect.  I got to see Doug in  between both of us working.  He usually gets done around 2am.  I tried to do the same.  The camper was small, but I managed to make a nice breakfast for us of eggs, bacon and pancakes on an electric griddle.  Some mornings we had cereal.  For dinner, I made cheese quesadilla or toaster oven mini pizzas or even pierogies in the toaster oven.

It was camping and living and working and making due in a small space for 10 days with each other while we both had stressful and hectic, and even unpredictable, work schedules.

But none of that effected our ability to have a nice time.  It was an absolutely wonderful time.  On the eighth day, after passing our 8 month’s since we met, we could no longer hold back and declared the L word to each other.  Those of you who know me may need to take a moment to catch your breath.  I most certainly did.  But it is true… I love him and he loves me and he is working hard to get everything in order to move to Arizona this summer.

The moments we have shared over the last eight months have been fabulous.  From the very first magical moment we met to now and every moment in between.  We are forced to get to know each other through phone calls and text messages and eight visits across country to see each other over the last eight months.  We learn more and more about each other every day and every visit and it seems to only increase our desire to be with each other always.

It’s crazy, but it is true….

Heavily exhausted and highly caffienated, I feel high.  But I am still doing laundry and packing for my trip to Helen.  The last couple weeks have been unreal…work, rental property, finances, the unexpected X 10, customers, projects, family….  not a single aspect of my life over the past couple weeks has NOT been more stressful than usual.  Wonder how much more can really be piled on sometimes, but somehow, I handle it all and do what I need to do and get stuff done.  Somehow my bosses continue to tell me that I am responsible for so much success of the company and praise me for my ability to juggle so many customers and resources and projects… most of the time without eruption.

I am on my second load of laundry and have already begun to pack.  I am hungry but I can’t seem to find anything that appeals to me.  I have a task list that still needs to be done for work tonight and another list of reminders and to-dos for trip preparation.  I performed the final walk-thru with my tenants today as they moved out over the weekend.  Not sure I can think of a worse time than this month for their departure, but I have known about it for a couple months and prepared as much as could be done for it given the time of year.  I met with the contractor this morning to get an estimate on the various repairs to be done in the house before the next tenants move in.  The bid was slightly higher than I had hoped, but that is to be expected as well.  I contacted all three utility companies today to switch the utilities back into my name while it is vacant waiting for the next tenants to call it home.

I think about retirement for a bit, but I cannot fixate on that right now as there are way to many things to do before heading to the airport eight hours from now.  I saw that the plane that is designated for this trip does not have internet, so I suppose I can dream about retirement on the plane in the morning.

I look forward to being in Helen again.  I plan to be working each day as it is not truly a vacation, however, it will be very nice to see Doug and get a better sense of what it is like for us to spend our time together while each of us are working and managing responsibilities.  I pray that the recent constant stream of unexpected crisis will hopefully be behind me, as it will be that much more challenging to handle things remotely.  I have to have faith that my contractor will have my best interests in mind as he handles the renovations on the rental without my oversite.  I am somewhat inclined to wait until I get back to handle the work on the rental, but there is a time factor involved and I would certainly love to be able to get the house rented sooner than later.  Every day that goes by is a loss of income.

I just cannot think about that right now.  I need to figure out what I am going to eat and put the clothes in the dryer and continue packing and get my work done for tonight and get to the airport.

I went back to Helen, Georgia for four days with the intent of looking at cabins to hopefully purchase one as an investment vacation rental. Dan and I went together so that he could advise me as my business partner. We arrived in Thursday night into Atlanta and made our way to Steak ‘n Shake for some food. Oh, it was soooo good. I really miss having Steak ‘n Shake nearby. By the time we were done, it was pretty late. We thought about stopping at a bar to have a drink, but then thought better of it. Instead, we found a dark, quiet park to pull into and take a nap. We figured we would head to Helen early in the morning. Of course, after about 45 minutes of resting there, the local police decided to pay us a visit and we had to leave. We stopped at a hotel and rested in the parking lot there and I talked on the phone with my local Helen tour guide. Around 6am, we arrived in Helen and I went to the Huddle House to have some coffee and do some writing in my journal.

The moment we arrived in Helen, my heart skipped a beat once again. I cannot even explain in words how magical it is there… like a fairy tale.

For the rest of the day on Friday, we looked at about 12 different cabins. The opportunities are excellent.

Friday night, we made our way to the Hayloft where I had a chance to see my favorite local tour guide. He was busy and distracted and uncertain about our interaction given the complications of it all such as the 2000 miles between us. Our initial talk was emotional and left me feeling somewhat lost. What is this crazy attraction between us? It is so intense. None-the-less, he had to leave to work and I went to the bar with Dan where he was hitting on a hottie and hoping I would help him seal the deal. She was cute and it was fun, but my mind was elsewhere and the drinks were flowing quite freely.

The rest of the weekend was magical and emotional. I wish I could stay there forever.

Sunday I made an offer on a cabin and Monday talked with the bank. Then we left town back to the west.