It's Done

I haven't been this bone-tired in a long time, but it's a good kind of tired, because we are DONE with that apartment. I cleared out everything (except, of course, the furniture that the charity was supposed to pick up yesterday) and did a final walk-through with our video camera, since the office was closed. We'll have to drive by and drop off the keys tomorrow (I didn't have an envelope to put them in, since I didn't realize that the office would be closed), and then we'll never need to go there again.

Which is pretty bittersweet, actually. It was sad saying goodbye to Mom's apartment, because it felt like saying goodbye to her. It was a sad ending. Also, Matt lived in that same complex while we were dating, so every time we'd go visit Mom and Rob we'd drive by his old apartment and the courtyard out front where we spent a lot of time cuddling in the porch swing, and get nostalgic warm fuzzies. So that's gone, too. But we're nothing but happy to be able to mark the apartment off our monster To Do list once and for all.

We still need to take care of Rob's finances and social security, and notify Mom's bank of her death. We also still need to go through her address book and call all of her friends to make sure they know about her passing. And, of course, we still have to plan the memorial. But these are all things we can do at our own pace, so that the other areas of our lives can start getting back to normal. And I can finally get back to work next week. I won't be nearly as well rested as I would've been if December had gone according to plan (before all of this happened, I'd been planning to give myself a vacation from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day), but after not even having time to think about my business since the moment we found out about Mom's passing, it will still feel good to get back to it.

Of course, the old normal is gone for good. It will take a while yet to establish the new normal, getting back to a routine that includes regular visits to Rob and overseeing his care. And, of course, caring for his cat. It's going to take a long time for that empty, Mom-shaped hole in our lives to heal, and our lives will never be quite the same again.