Our decision to move to the farm was not an easy one.

Before we could even say yes to moving at all, we had to make sure changing provinces would not affect my husband’s disability payments.  He is, after all, still considered employed.  It took some time for the answer to come through – apparently, no one had asked the person he spoke to this question before.  Then, just to confuse things, his employer changed their insurance provider.  Because he was already on long-term disability, anything to do with his injury, such as physio, is still with the first company.  But everything else, such as his prescriptions, dental coverage and my own coverage, is now with another company.

In the end, we did find out that we would still be covered the same if we moved to another province.

So after several months, this past spring, we could finally tell my mother that yes, we could move into the old farm-house.

Of course, there was a lot more we had to consider as well, but in the end, we felt moving would be the right thing to do.  In my mind, I was especially happy that it would bring my husband closer to his own family, whom he hasn’t been able to see in years.

The original plan was to take our time about it.  We would move out in the spring of next year.  This would give us time to slowly get rid of things (sell, give to friends, donate… whatever), prepare our new-to-us vehicle for a road trip, including installing a trailer hitch, etc.  My husband and younger daughter would fly out in about May, and my older daughter and I would rent a small trailer for things the movers won’t take, then drive out with the cats a few weeks later.

Well, that didn’t last very long.

In the end, after a flurry of calls to my mother, who had offered to pay for the movers, and emails with family, it was decided we could move in the fall.  Because the co-op we live in requires two months notice to vacate, we could give our notice at the end of September and be able to move in November.  This way, the house would be occupied for the winter, and save my mother the cost of utilities, etc. for an empty house.

It cut about 7 months off our timeline, but we figured we could manage.  We even booked a flight for my husband and daughter to head out near the end of October.

Then that changed, dramatically.  A medical emergency put my father in law in the hospital.  At first, things were looking okay, but a sudden change in condition meant that, within a few hours of finding out about it, my husband and daughter were on a plane.  It was a one way trip.

Thankfully, my father in law’s condition has improved since then.  However, it has meant that my husband and daughter are at the old farmhouse now, while I and our older daughter have stayed behind to finish preparing for the movers.

The house wasn’t anywhere near ready, but we were expecting that, to a certain extent.  After all, we were already moving the timeline up 7 months.

Did I mention the cell phone and internet dead zone?

Yeah.

Thankfully, there is a land line.

There are companies that provide rural internet services.  An appointment had already been made to have a tower installed on the house a few days ago.

It didn’t happen.

You see, there is a spruce grove near the house.  The trees were blocking the signal.  They would have had to install a much higher tower, which they had not expected, so were not prepared to do, at an additional cost we could not afford.

So there is still no internet.

This was a make or break thing for us.  Internet access is an essential, for all four of us, for a variety of reasons.

So what’s plan B?

Dial up?