and they're here because...?

I'm at work right now (it's horribly slow, I'm basically breathing behind a desk and that's it) and I walked through the parking lot on my way back from getting a Mt Dew and got to wondering about something. There's a cheapo storage facility next door to the shop and it's a major homeless hangout, like Larry for example, who lives in two vans parked there and thinks the bushes next to the lot are his own personal bathroom (he hasn't done it since I threatened to call the cops) and Marlin, who's a bit schizo and looks like one of the Beatles, circa 1969. There's also this couple who sit in their car in the lot for hours. Napping, listening to the radio, whatever, and I can't help thinking, gee, this is beautiful Hawaii, home to beaches, waterfalls, palm trees, etc and you can't think of a better place to sit in a parked car than a blacktop parking lot at a storage facility that's next door to the garbage truck company? In the words of the immortal Jim Morrison "people are strange".

In good news for the day, last night I bought my tickets and I'm officially flying out of here with angel #4 on Friday afternoon. I'll get into WI on Saturday morning and begin my new life living in the great white north. Just about everything that needs to be out of my house is out of it, except for one LaZboy recliner (Angel #2's been sleeping on it) and I have someone who'll buy it at a discount and pick it up on Friday if we don't sell it by then. A funny thing happened yesterday - funny strange. We've had so many people in and out of our home buying stuff in the last few weeks, that's it's just become normal to let strangers wander around in our house. Yesterday, I was waiting for a guy to come pick up a desk, but he was late and I needed to leave to pick Angel #2 up from work (I sold Debbie, our car yesterday, so we're down to 1 vehicle, which we're not planning on selling yet). Angel #4 was home and I told her to deal with it. On my way home, I thought about what I did. I told my 11 year old daughter to let a complete stranger into our house and take things. It's not like the guy knew she was going to be there alone or anything, but it's pretty much against all the Mommy Rules out there. But, you know what? Despite what the news reports want you to believe, most people out there are nice, and want the best for others and aren't looking for ways to hurt people. #4 said the guy and his buddy were really nice, made a point of avoiding our carpets, which were still wet from the carpet cleaning guy's work that morning, and even knew our landlord. Sometimes, you just have to trust your kids to make good decisions on their own. Besides, if any of those people are mass murderers bent on our destruction, my being there with her was definitely not going to stop them - there's not much of a dent 105 lb me is going to make in a hockey mask wearing, ax wielding murderer.