First Week of Ownership

June 9th, 2024

The day of the sale was dreary and cool. Putting the new plates with mismatched screws in the back of a Walmart parking lot, I couldn’t have cared less.

I drove Valentina home nervously, the size of the van, it’s age, my uncertainty making me a more cautious driver than usual for the short trip home, wood stain and cleaning supplies sliding around the vacant cupboards.

When parked, I began to prepare for cleaning but instead found myself pacing the few steps like a caged cat. Bringing myself to stillness I finally voiced it.
”I own this space.”

The sigh of silence following that statement filled me. And so, I began cleaning. Scrubbing, wiping, dusting and planning where to stain the interior.

During the staining process, I coated almost all the wooden panels with red. It feels as though I was somehow giving blood and life back to the dried, dead wood. Two trips to the garage were needed, but at last she was cleared to go with new wipers and fresh oil.

Valentina.

I picture her as a purple loving, bookish, curvy woman from the 80’s with big glasses and a satchel.

Thick, musty, zebra print curtains were cut down, replaced with peaches and lace, a mattress, splitting at the seams like a bloated carcass taken to the dump with flattened seat covers and the sadly beautiful remains of a wooden table.

Reflectors, solar panels, and a few USB fans to give some releif from still and stifling heat. I know something stronger, more reliable, will be needed before I go anywhere south of the boarder. Even some places in Canada, I will have to be wary about parking in the sun.

Odysseus’s safety is my primary concern, my finances are my secondary while prepping and planning this through.

This, is the week of follow through movement, proceeding on the act.
I will be selling my Jeep,
I will be moving in and, this time next week,
I will be in Tofino.