Thursday, August 9, 2012

If It Really Is My Fault, How Do We Choose Where To Move When My Husband Retires?

I have endured a good deal of teasing by my new Tulsa friends about the surprising things that have happened in my short tenure.  I have honestly believed that it isn't my fault, but my first month in Tulsa had the worst snow storm in anyone's memory.  My first Summer in Tulsa was the hottest in history - with something like 10 days in a row of 116+ degree temperatures.  The worst earthquake in Oklahoma history followed.  And the only thing that has kept this Summer from being a record is how bad last Summer was.  Anyone who know me knows that I have never complained about the heat.  (Except for the Summer I was pregnant with Amanda.)  But I gave up on ever getting enough sleep to function in Tulsa, and with John about to spend two weeks on the road, it could only get more difficult.  (Anyone who regularly sleeps with someone knows how difficult it is to sleep when that someone is gone - in fact, the only time it is harder to get to sleep is when they return after you have rediscovered the delight of having an entire bed all to yourself.)  So I booked a flight and arrived in Southern California on Tuesday.  Just in time for an Earthquake - and the best night's sleep I have had all Summer.  (I have been in plenty of earthquakes - it was more common to have a month with an earthquake in than not when I was growing up - but these quakes had the sharpness that only a really close earthquake has.  Very short and very sharp.)  There were eight aftershocks during the night and I didn't feel a one.  Slept like a baby.
But my point, and I do have one is that when John called me on Wednesday the first thing he said was, "It's you!"  They almost had him convinced at work that he had caused all these bad things when he moved there.    But he was nowhere near California, so he knew that I must be the cause.  Made him feel a lot better.  No totally sure how I feel about it.

10 comments:

  1. You can sleep through earthquakes?
    What a woman you are, Beryl!!!
    Stay safe xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. EEK...earthquakes. After experiencing my first this past year or so I can do without, thank you. But, I can also do without tornados! The Oklahoma summer, well, I'm pretty used to it.

    Glad you are able to finally sleep!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1980 was a really hot year too. I think you were just lucky to have gone to OK when you did. Now you can say you have experienced wild, west weather!
    I wish I could give some sleep advice, but I can't. I sleep by myself most nights since DH is on 3rd shift. I'm kind of used to it now, but I do sleep better when he is at home.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah Beryl, it was not your fault!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here I was all set to discuss pros and cons of where to live in retirement and you're talking about 'causing' bad weather! Too funny. I can't believe you could sleep through earthquakes, though perhaps it is like being rocked in a cradle? I've only experiences one that I recall - in Salt Lake City. I felt the ground shake and heard my china tinkling together. I pretty much just about tinkled myself, it scared me so. I don't worry so much about tornados... Something about familiarity there I guess, just as with you and 'your' (not) earthquakes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Patricia - My mother has always admonished us to exaggerate our Earthquakes, because it is the only thing keeping the whole country from moving to Southern California.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Carla - I must be honest about the Oklahoma Earthquake - it was the longest one I had ever been in. Not too strong, but very worrying length. It was very nice to have the easy explanation that neweroil and gas drilling techniques might have caused it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Debbi - Isn't it odd to be retired while your husband still works? I wonder if John will still get out of bed at 4 AM after he retires? I'm pretty sure that in the 30+ years we've been married, I've gotten out of bed first less than once per year.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Sanda - That makes me feel better. (And less guilty!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Shelley - I am probably more interested in discussing pro and cons of various retirement locations than almost anything else. It's such a serious subject that I shy away from it in favor of more frivolous topics. Your time in Utah always sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete