NOT IN KANSAS ANY MORE

. . . as Dorothy said to Toto. Actually, we were only in Kansas for a portion of the time. The rest of the time we were driving (three days on the road) through Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Speaking of Arizona, here’s our new home for the next few weeks. You will be able to tell that we are not in our regular surroundings because of the following:

1) There is no snow.
2) There is no grass.
3) There is a palm tree in our front yard.

I’ve already hugged Colbie—and my pregnant daughter-in-law and my pregnant daughter. It was amazing to realize last night that I had three grandchildren all in the same room, even though two of them are a little hard to see at the moment. But I’ve felt them kick—little ninja boy and little soccer boy. They’re very good kickers.

I haven’t gone for a walk yet because it’s been raining since we got here—but it’s Arizona and it will quit raining very soon. After sitting in the car for three days, I’m afraid rigor mortis has set into my joints, but I’ll get my knees bending normally again sooner than you think.

We’ve been spreading our belongings around our very nice house, trying to make it look and feel a little like home. It’s in a regular neighborhood this year, not the maximum security gated community for incarcerated senior citizens (i.e., Perfectville) that we lived in last year.

In fact, Colbie lives across the street from me.

Dangerous, you might think: an across-the-street grandma. How soon will it be before Colbie’s mom and dad change their phone number and install extra locks on their doors? I have told myself I will not just sit on the curb and wait for her to come out and play. I cannot ring her doorbell before 5:30 a.m. I have my rules. There’s a fine line between a pesky grandmother and a helpful one. What an exercise in self control this will be. It’s like Colbie is a little magnet and I am a pile of metal shavings . . .

It’s good to be here. Out of the snow, out of the ice, across the street from my beautiful grandchild. It feels like I have died and gone to heaven. But it’s really Arizona, and I’m very much alive.