At The Edge Off The Cliff

It’s been too long since my last update which was about July 20. I believe the last you heard was our house was about to sell and we had put an offer in on a nice country house here. Well, on or about July 25, we got word that the house deal in Grand Haven was about to fall thru. TWO DAYS before they were scheduled to close! We were absolutely angry, frustrated, and flabbergasted! That’s right flabbergasted!!! Of course this meant our house deal here had to fall thru as well. We were not happy. Keep in mind we had moved out of our hotel on the 22nd and were living in our camper. So we had no house, Jo had no job, and we just felt overwhelmed. So I get home that night and Jo had to go to an interview for a principal on North Hero Island in Lake Champlain. She really didn’t want to go but it was the second round and she was one of three candidates. She was also pretty crushed about the house issues we had that day and was probably not projecting the normal happy JoJo that we all know and love. Well she went and I was in the camper with the kids all grumpy about the house. That was not a happy couple hours that Jo was at her interview. She went and got home about 9:00pm feeling like she had at least presented herself well but also pretty confident that she didn’t get the job. It’s 50 minutes from Burlington to that school so we weren’t all that depressed that she was not going to get that job. 10 minutes later the phone rang and she was offered the job!!! We lived many emotions that day and while it wound up positive, I never want to do it again.

Keep in mind Jo wasn’t at all sure she wanted to do this principal thing because she thought it would keep her from the kids too much, and it might, but she decided to give it a try. Thus begins her frequent trips ‘To the edge of the cliff……’ Figuratively speaking of course. She would come as close to panic attacks as I’ve ever seen. Literally day to day. Keep in mind there were several other things going on too. We were living in the camper, her dads health was not great but he was staying relatively even, and her mom seemed to be getting sick again and had scheduled a doc apt to find out what was going on. I on the other hand was in charge of talking her back from the edge of the cliff every other day. Really no big deal in comparison. So things seemed to be looking up, and I think we even said that. Whoooops! Was that the wrong thing to think.

On July 29 Jo drove home with the 3 boys, the long way below the lakes, to be with her mom who had found out her cancer was back and was going to have surgery that Tuesday the 31st. The trip went fine and she was able to hang with her family as June had surgery. The outcome was not good and nor was her prognosis. They were not able to get the cancer out and she was given a limited amount of time left to live. This was very hard to take because she had conquered so well in her previous round. I joined Jo at home for Coast Guard weekend and also to help her drive back, this time thru Canada because we’d gotten copies of the boys birth certs because the normal copies were in storage.

This too would not go as expected. We got to Port Huron and upon entering Canada, we found that the County Clerk had made a mistake and given us two for Sean, one for Zack and none for BJ. Turned out not to be a big deal and we figured we would have time to deal. Wrong again. We drove all day Sunday and got home on August 5th. It would be only 4 short days later before we’d be back in Grand Haven but not for June’s health but for Dale’s. We got a call that Wednesday saying he’d been found collapsed at his home. We figured it was just another episode of his ammonia levels being too high and he’d come out of it. Turns out it was much more than that. He had pneumonia and many other problems and his body could no longer fight. June was released from the hospital in time to say good bye and everyone else was able to as well. He passed away that weekend and his memorial service was August 16. Sometimes life just slaps you in the face and for Jo, this last year and a half has been one big slap. Ups, downs, then more downs, and some ups. It’s made for a lot of days ‘at the edge of the cliff’. (I’ve barely touched on this phase, not because I don’t feel it’s significant, but because it’s still pretty hard for all of us to deal with, especially Jo.

Well we got back and Jo started work right away. We were still in the camper and shortly after getting back we had a communication problem with the office and they gave our spot away. So with less than 24 hrs warning we had to move our camper to god only knows where. We found a place and it turned out way better than the previous place and it was also on South Hero Island which was closer for Jo. We still needed to find a rental for school time though. We finally found one and right on the water. We’ve been here just over three weeks and it’s been great. My parents and brother Brian came out for Labor day week and it was great to have them here and they are excited for us being here.

So, all things said and done we are actually doing very well. We took the boys to the top of Stowe and the view and ride was awesome. We also stayed at Smugglers Notch with my parents and the kids are amped to go skiing and boarding after staying on the mountain. Frankly, so am I!!!!! We are budgeting to get season passes to Smugglers Notch, or as we locals call it – Smuggs. The leaves are turning already and I can’t wait for my first fall in New England. We still are concerned about June, and hope she can get healthy enough to come out and visit. We will be coming home sometime in October for our annual pilgrimage to Glen Lake to go canoeing. That is if we can find our canoe carrying equipment in storage…….That is our life right now, ‘Storage’, but, we’ll keep plugging and hoping for that one thing that needs to happen, the house sells. Once that happens we’ll be in a much happier place.

I’ll try and get some pictures with the next update, but we are on dial up now and I don’t know how many weeks it takes to upload a file the size of a picture J.

Finally, to everyone who has shown us tremendous support through everything and especially Dorothy & Carroll who have gone above and beyond, we say a huge, and I mean HUGE thank you. So, from the edge of the cliff, I’ll sign off for today.


It’s a few days later now…..Saturday September 22. We didn’t start out to have a big day but we finished that way. First, soccer practice. It’s growing every week. There was no real program here on North Hero but a great mom from Jo’s school started one and Jo and I volunteered to help coach. It started with less than 10 kids and today we about 30. That’s a great turnout and we have fun. So, an hour and half of that and then it time to go into Burlington. We found out the South Burlington High School has an annual ski swap, much like the YMCA from back home. So I was geeked to get there and see what we could do for the boys. I was not disappointed. We got 3 sets of skis, boots, and helmets for under $400. That was great! So it was on to the next stop, BK. Ate lunch, then headed by the used car shop that had the Mini-Cooper I wanted since I’ve been here. It’s been too high a price and I have been able to hold off even though I really want it. We’ll today it was listed at my threshold price. You know, the price you set that says you wont buy it until it drops to such and such a price. So, today I became an ex-gas guzzler and the owner of a red mini-cooper with checkerboard roof. It’s an 03 and I’m pretty excited to get it Monday. I guess I’m getting tree huggery crunchy…….blech! What really sold me was that I took about a 20 minute test drive and 8 minutes into it Seany fell asleep. So he was sold. Lastly we went to Cosco. Enough said about that!

For those of you who don’t know our SBC email is kaput! So Jo and I both have gmail accounts. jimbennink@gmail.com joeybennink@gmail.com Will try and get pictures up soon of the car and the kids ski stuff.

So long for now……….