McCauley moves '59-73

I wrote this some time ago and not sure if I ever sent it. It's on an unpublished Blog draft.

I don't know why, but lately, I've been thinking about the various moves we made over the years. The first one was a few weeks before Kathleen was born--we packed up our house stuff, sent it off to  Ft. Sill, OK, and moved in with Nana and Papa.

Dad left for Ft. Sill 10 days after Kate was born. She and I a few weeks later. We lived there from Sep to Feb when we moved to Ft. Bliss, stayed in a small apartment until Dad finished school then, moved into a small house in El Paso.

It was a nice house but a neighborhood where there were no young people and no kids so in a few weeks before Mary was born we moved to a house on Aiken Lane where there were families with kids.

We were there until 6 weeks after Steve was born when Dad was going to Korea and we were going to AL, near Nana and Papa but had to spend a couple weeks in a motel apartment while Dad went to another school back in Ft. Sill.

Packing was interesting, deciding what we needed in Ft. Sill, what we needed for the road, what we would need when in AL and what would go in storage, which was most of our furniture since I planned to rent a furnished apartment.

You know how that turned out. We rented an unfurnished house in Columbus, GA, down the street from Aunt Joan. Dad didn't know we moved until he got my letters in Korea. In an unfurnished house with no furniture--fortunately, I had arranged for a few of our things to be moved to AL. Nana and Papa brought them to GA along with Steve who had stayed with them because I had planned on only visiting with Joan not moving there.

I had the crib, Mary's youth bed, a card table and two chairs plus a few odds and ends including Steve's high chair. N & P brought down a couch they wanted to get rid of(it became my bed) and I had two footlockers that I put a mattress on for Kate's bed.

I bought a small TV for $15 and a used washer and dryer for $50.

Next move was to Birmingham via 3 months in Tarrytown while Dad went to PR school in Ft. Slocum NY. We still had the bulk of our furniture in storage in TX and had to wait until we had an address in AL before we could arrange to have it shipped to us.

In Tarrytown, we lived in a converted carriage house with no kitchen per se--just a stove in a small alcove, no kitchen sink--I washed dishes in the bathroom sink. Dad was gone usually from 7 to 7 and then had to study until late at night. Kate, Mary Steve and I spent the day doing very little but sometimes walked to a nearby shopping center. We didn't have a phone so it got lonesome with no one to talk to but little ones.

I really liked Birmingham, the house, the neighbors, our church friends and almost didn't want to move to Germany when Dad got orders to go there. I had seriously considered staying but reason prevailed and again it was moving-decision time.

Since we were going to Ft. Leavenworth KS for a few months before Germany, I had to decide what we would take in the car with us,
two seasons worth of clothes;
what would go in storage,
what we needed in Ft Leavenworth,
and what we needed that was not in the apartment in Germany.

Next move was from the 4th floor to the 1st. Probably one of the easiest moves of all.

Coming back to the States wasn't too bad. Just deciding what to pack for the trip and to have until we got housing at Hancock AFB. Which we didn't know until after we were staying with Phyl and Dick for a week or so.

I liked our time in Syracuse in spite of the small house and the cold weather. Lots of good memories from there.

Then we were off to Hampton, VA while Dad went to Viet Nam.

After that Colorado Springs, not the best place for me. I had what I now know is altitude depression, also a lot of shortness of breath and tiredness. Loved our house and the surrounding area and wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Finally FL--first Dunedin, then Clearwater.

So how many moves was that? Should I count the short ones like two times in OK before and after Ft. Bliss/El Paso?

Wonder why I've been thinking of those moves? Who knows why we think of odd things for no reason we can think of.

I think that's enough thinking for today--going to go take a nap.

Love,

Mom