Why BOOM-A-RANG MOM?

“My heart wants roots My mind wants wings. I cannot bear Their bickerings.” – E.Y. Harburg

  1. The meaning of this site has nothing to do with Australia but has a few meanings for us so let me explain?!!
  2. Most importantly we both have Boom-A-Ranged back to life from a serious medical event.  We actually say we are in recovery from these events but the truth is we will never actually recover.  THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!  Brain injuries are pretty permanent and I know I will never be the same.  I think Leslie does as well, but she will write to you soon with her story.  I will never be able to walk without assistance, but someday i hope to take a picture where i do not hid my cane (actually this is the beginning of my coming out I think).?!   I will never drive again and truth be told i have no idea what i could do for work.  Especially when I see my dear friends (Debbi) who is smart, beautifully younger than her years,  with a resume to be proud of, looking for a job for over a year.  That is who people should hire not me….What is wrong with employers hire Debbi!  I tried to move forward with my career but  the stroke left me dead in this arena, I had such a wonderful career but I believe I could not perform at this level anymore but I will never give up on this.  Financially I was not ready to retire at 57, never mind now!
  3.  Our family dynamics have changed so much due to this change in health.   I sold the family home and moved into an apartment 6 miles from the city and near the beach.  I do love it here but since I will be traveling.  I am giving up my apartment and living out of a suitcase.  Between trips this suitcase  will most likely be in my kids homes when I am not on the road.  Well after all, I did take good care of them for many years, sent them to the college of their choice,  ( retirement funds depleted?) It is better than them worrying about me having no life and being a depressed couch potato, They flew the coup and two of the three came back after college….Boom-A-Ranged home.  Now I am Boom-A-Ranging to their homes?!
  4. Boom-A-Rang  is technically a tool (I love tools) and when we were going through the hardest part of recovery we reached out to our friends and families to be our tools and maybe more importantly they reached out to help us get thru the changes.  Today we are getting very independent and might just be a pain in the butt.   Leslie and I have found each other to help with in this phase of life.  We have some living to do and we want to experience the time we have been blessed with traveling.  So my kids and hers can actually feel good about our traveling because we (Leslie and I) understand that life is sometimes confusing for us and we have to make it work.
  5.  I am doing this for people who need some inspiration also!  My friends and family (Stroke-Janice C.) and sister (MS)  People who cannot get out of a wheelchair or are dealing with Strokes/MS/ALS or other Neurological disabilities.  This is for you!  The hidden effect is that people in perfectly good health are working themselves to the bone and also may find inspiration in this.  BoomARang people…it is not a journey to find yourself but is a journey to renew who you always were!

Friends….two heads are better than one!

Before we left Leslie and I had a talk.  The talk went something like this….I don’t know you well enough to read your mind so if your hungry or tired or need some space—SAY SO!  You are 60 years old so “I don’t know”  is not an option.  You know what you want so SAY SO.  This worked for us.  Highly suggest you have this conversation with some of your friends!  Empowering ACTUALLY!

 

As we got to know each other over the next few months it was really great!  Leslie and I are both 1/2 Polacks  (yes Poland will be on our list), we have the same favorite ice cream (pralines and creme)-how weird is that, we were the same size clothes basically although she is much taller than I and I am built very differently  we actually could share clothes and such.  Which will make life easier when traveling cuz lets face it Girls do get weary wearing there same old things!  But now it turns out weird…we both wear the same perfume!  Not channel or something common we both wear Cashmire Mist!

Leslie is more of a pet lover than I but I have other good balancing traits.  We had enough in common but also enough differences to make it work!  We never crossed the street without holding hands her looking to the left and me to the right.  We watched out for each other at home too.  Did you????  Keeping each other in tact….Leslie could speak Spanish better than I, but I could read it better so we were covered that way also. All in all we become a couple over the month …our kids say a couple of what?  Kids reaction to their disabled mom’s is coming to this blog soon…..

Who are we and how do we get the jobs?

We are two retired (59) females that housesit together and we both are filled with lots of love sometimes this is demonstrated through people and other times through animals, but regardless it always ends up as “friends for life”.  We both spend time outside and enjoy fresh air.   

We both like to  walk and try to do so 4 miles a day whenever possible (goal) and Patti is writing a book so we like to break the monotomy and do different things.  The other thing that happened after working 50-60 hours a week was the lack of adrenaline Patti felt she had to get up and about each day.  Nothing exciting to do.  She missed the excitement (if you want to call it that) of working on a project or with people.   Work is definitely underrated as far as that goes.  You wake up each day looking ahead:  What should you wear, do you have deadlines, do you have meetings, and occasionally you may even check your horoscope, but definitely the weather.  Adrenaline gets you going!  Patti missed that but now traveling gives her that chance to do something and look forward to.  Also gets her into a new place to write about the places we  have been in the book.

Patti is from the Boston area and Leslie is from Oregon and we are both registered sitters on this site (Trustedhousesitters.com as well as a few more).  We pay a annual fee and build our profiles-Very simple!..  Make your cover letters beforehand and be ready because there is tons of competition for the really nice jobs.  So be ready to apply.   We make no mistake about it this is work and in the application and work we are always treating it as such.  We have reference letters and we are on time, reliable and of course dutiful.  Leslie has had many dogs and we cannot ignore her 2 great danes! We both balance out the communication with the homeowner and take care of the expectations from the owners.  We have international drivers licenses that we both got from AAA and of course we have all our shots taken care off.  Look up travel clinics in your area for these.  We both have had prominent career’s and are responsible to homeowners, dealing with respect for their energy costs, pets and home.  We also do gardening, painting, minor repairs, and organizing if needed. We typically schedule a Skype date to meet the owner, animal and see the home before we leave to be sure it is not a scam.  We do not get paid (some people charge daily rates) nor do we pay for their bills (housekeeping, utilities) while there, we do pay for our flights and sightseeing unless they have connections we can use and of course our food.  Some people (Vegans may only want Vegans sitting).  Most do not want smokers or drinkers.  So ask a lot of questions.  Arrange firm times/dates before you book flights.  This is not going to make you rich financially in fact just the opposite but this is a form of retirement just earlier than later.  I gave up my car and apartment saving me thousands every month.  

How did this all get started….!

Oh my goodness – where do I start?! I met Pam over 30 years ago at a Lamaze class in Long Beach, CA. We have been close friends ever since! Pam was also friends with Leslie Hays, where in 1980 they worked together in Portland, OR. Pam has stayed close to each of us over the years, and most recently, as we BOTH experienced major disabilities. When Pam encouraged Leslie to come out for a Boston/Cape visit last fall, she introduced us over lunch in the North End, known as Little Italy (ironic, but more on that later!) She knew we had each been through so much in our lives, and hoped that we could embrace our commonalities and also become friends.

As Leslie, a former high-functioning Director of Operations, stood in my living room telling her story from Directorship to Disabled and, unemployable over the past 5 years, I realized that we really did share a lot of similarities. Leslie had experienced three aneurisms in 2008. They only gave her a five percent chance of recovery after surgery, not to mention future probability of problems.  She has a bit of right side neglect, memory issues, and gets confused and disoriented when under pressure.    I could tell Leslie was sincere and offered her story/wisdom of what she had been through to connect and help me. At the time, I was only one year out from my stroke and just getting back to work, trying to align myself to who I knew as the old Patti and not accepting that the present Patti was different. She received a 20% chance of recovery after her stroke.   Struggling with what was supposed to be happening in her life, She keep praying and chanting…get back to normal…back to normal…back to normal – you can do this! But the day before I get discharged from rehab I have another stroke…. major set-back to the chanting.  Little did I know that my normal was about to change drastically over the next year! Like Leslie, I had returned to work and about 10 months into it, my employer with confused and baffled looks (plus please don’t sue me in their eyes) said “nope, your not cutting it, your not the girl we hired, we have to let you go”. Surprised? No… not for Pattie; Everyday was a marathon of suffering and each moment trying to be THAT girl. Problem is I had no idea who THAT girl was anymore.

Brain injuries are really weird. You actually look well, but your head is short circuited! It is similar to driving down a smooth road and then hitting speed bumps at 70 MPH, with your wheels ending up on the other side of the road! The outside of the car looks the same, only the passengers are asking what the hell just happened!? And always seeing a lieelt more inside damage that was not apparent directly after the incident.  So now I have what is now known to me as left side neglect. I actually did not know my left side existed – it feels like someone poured cement in my temple and is heavy down to my toes. I feel nothing, but can move it while concentrating… thanks to mirror therapy. So, She was out of a job and did not know what to do! She bought a cheap airline ticket to see her two friends Debbi and Paulette, figuring they will remind hee of who She was.!?! Patti gets to the airport and breakdown in confusion in the United terminal. I am not talking about sobbing. This cry was coming from my toes, like a two year old! I was confused and lost. This had happened once before after the stroke. A TSA guy comes and helps me. The first guy turns to the handoff person on those little golf carts and says “this is a very nervous traveler be careful and gentle”. I almost laughed forgetting what I had just displayed in public. I had traveled for years on a weekly basis and cross county was nothing I was scared of! I get to California and stay for a few weeks.

Upon my return from California Pam and her hubby Ralph, were still in the wings.  They take a ride to my house and say “you need to prepare yourself for getting rid of this monster of a house”.  I had a 8 bedroom 3200 sq ft house. Ralph takes downstairs and Pam upstairs every closet is gonna be cleaned out.  So I sit on my bed while my best friend Pam says “these high heels need to go!”  I sob and realize it is true!  I had to give away my beautiful shoes, and she weeded out my clothes too.  When it was all over I remember feeling like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was ready to move on.  (see blog on this) Cleaning closets is very therapeutic?!!?

Okay so now your gonna know why the background of all this is super important!  Pam is not finished with us yet….Pam calls and says, “you remember Leslie – well she wants to go to Italy – you should go with her! She shouldn’t travel alone, nor should you! After my complete melt down in Logan airport, I knew that those traveling days alone were gone for me too! So here we go….why not? Leslie and I made a plan to go to Italy and both of us were ecstatic! Of course it didn’t end there! Leslie then makes a plan to take a house sitting job in Ecuador and asks if I’m game! I jump on board. We had the time of our lives and managed this TOGETHER. What one of us struggles with, the other picks up the slack. While we were in Ecuador, we discussed the reality of …(since we will already be in Italy) extending our Italy trip. Why not??!! Long story short…we now have a trip booked to Rome, Paris, Normandy France then back to Tuscany….house sitting and watching pets! Follow me now to see how our lives change as we start to be the new version of ourselves and how this affects our loving families!

Ecuador.. Day one and exploring

July 2014

Ecuador- July 7-August 25,2014

We arrive in Ecuador.  Housitting in a 2/2 Condo and a cat.  Tiki the cat was home as was Patrick the owner.  Rebecca his wife had already left for California.  Patrick picked us up from the airport and we get to this gorgeous condo with views from all angles.    AND OUR JOURNEY BEGINS!  Breakfast is first on our list but first we had to cross a major street and drivers in Ecuador were NUTS!  No such thing as pedestrians have the right of way! Quiche, well ok?  I can eat that!!

Patrick gave us the low down.  No tipping in Ecuador cause it is probably added to the bill at a restaurant.  no tipping for taxicabs.  Cab-fare was like $1.40 for 2-3 miles boy Boston starts higher than that.  Patrick took off for north Carolina that night!

We started our journey!  We went to Maisal a section of Quito via taxi to check out tour companies.  After checking this out and shopping a bit we stopped for diner at the American Deli which brought us to the Sheridan Hotel next door.  Here we meet Alejandro who became our knight in shining armor over the trip and introduced us to the people of Ecuador who are all so kind and just lovely!

Alejandro set us up with tours!  We ate american and did everything american that day but then were on our way to getting into the community we were in!  Fun Fun!!