Confusing the Postmaster

The postmaster of the city of Washburn, according to Kevin, is very nice and helpful. Though he does not like it if people with PO boxes go for days and days without collecting their mail. Kevin found this out last week when he went to the post office to get a PO box for us because, well, we’ve moved again, and our new place does not have a mailbox in the yard.

So we’re forwarding mail from our old address in MN to our first address in Ashland and then to our second address in Washburn (before we realized we didn’t have a mailbox) and now to our PO box. I feel like I should bake cookies or crochet wool hats or something for the fine postal employees of this part of the world who have to sort through all our address changes.

Our residence for the next year or so.

In retrospect, everything has worked out exactly as it should, though the road has at times resembled a rollercoaster…but only one of those little rollercoasters at a county fair.

When we purchased our land outside of Washburn more than two and a half years ago, we decided that when my stepson graduated from high school, we would move north. And we did. We listed our house in MN for sale on July 2 and accepted an offer on July 3, with a closing date of August 14.

We started searching Craigslist and the classifieds for rental homes in the area of our land. We made several trips up to look at different places, but because the rental market is so tight, several other wanted the same houses. It became much like looking for a job, “selling” ourselves as the perfect tenants (because, duh, who wouldn’t want us to rent their house?). As August 14 grew closer, we entertained the idea of putting our stuff in storage and camping if we needed to. I felt better knowing we at least had a plan!

Finally, two weeks before closing and one week before we were planning to move our stuff out of our MN house, two opportunities arose on the same day. It was a gamble, as both places were 5+ miles from the nearest town about a half an hour from our land, and both were way bigger than we needed. One looked really nice, but we’d have to move out in the spring, potentially before our house was built. The other seemed fine and was a month-to-month lease. We went with the latter.

A few days after officially moving in, we wondered if we made the wrong choice for a heap of reasons I won’t dwell on, but we decided we could make it work. Our motto became “It’s only temporary.” What we really wanted, though, was a hard-to-find rental house in Washburn, in town and yet close to our land.

Lo and behold, on the morning we were going to be driving to MN for a funeral and then staying the rest of the week, I saw an ad in the classifieds for a house in Washburn. We called and went to look at it that afternoon on our way out of town, deemed it “perfect,” and the next day it was ours. We put in our notice for the first rental and started moving our stuff. We finished the move less than a week ago, and now we’re now living only a few minutes from our land and six blocks from Lake Superior in a town we fall more in love with every day and in a house that, despite the fact that none of the cupboards close completely and very few of the surfaces are actually level, is exactly what we need.

I've had very little opportunity to reflect on all that's happened, but as I watch the pieces fall into place, after blinking quickly and shaking my head a little wondering "Did that really happen?," I'm just so...thankful. Many times Kev and I have been speechless, only able to speak the words, "Wow! Thank you, Lord!"

I went to the library last week (which is less than a block away) and was told that once the librarians get to know me, I won’t need to show my card. Kevin was out on our land last Saturday and met a couple who live down the road…who we found out on Sunday also go to the church we’ve been attending. One of our neighbors near the house we’re renting brought us a jar or homemade jam.

Oh, and we're very diligent about getting our mail every day (or so).

We're home!

Mimi is happy in our new home too!