Moving, Hopefully Without Doom and Despair

Property of our friend Bill

It's official: Spousal Unit and I got the apartment. We're moving in tomorrow.

On the one hand, I'm excited. We're finally getting our own place, after months of our friends graciously putting up with our antics and sheltering us from heat stroke, frost bite, and raptor attacks. We're venturing out into the big ol' world out there for what's left of our first year as newlyweds. We get to settle into a new place for the second time in our lives together, and it can be as much alike or different from our old place as we want.

We'll be discovering a new part of town: new favorite places, new favorite walks to take, new adventures with the building's washers and dryers. We will go exploring when we're not bone tired from moving in, and even if we're cranky when we go, we will still love each other more for it.

On the other hand, we're stepping forward into unknown territory. It's a change of surroundings, with new things that go bump in the night and neighbors who hopefully won't smell too bad or give me the creeps. It's a transplant, and even though I'm hearty and have survived past moves, each new pot of soil seems far too acidic at first. My roots imagine they're shriveling up and dying. The air is polluted, and I don't get enough water.

Eventually, this will pass. Sooner rather than later, I hope; some part of me has been in transition mode since June, when we moved back out here. What comfort I had was jolted by finding work.

It makes me sound terribly selfish, I know. I appear ungrateful for all the wonderful happenings since summer came upon us. It's not a matter of being ungrateful: it's being uncomfortable and anxious and firmly attached to the familiarity of what was. It's being naturally sensitive to my surroundings and everything happening around me.

That's why I've added a new goal to my list of things to accomplish before my birthday next year. Starting tomorrow, when we move in, I plan to thoroughly enjoy something for a few minutes every day, until I feel comfortable and at home in the new place. It doesn't have to be a new something each day; I can revel in my knitting for two days in a row, if I want. I also plan to write down what I spend my time enjoying, which will help me further bask in the glow of something positive. I'm hoping this goal will help me focus more on the good things, as an escape from the negatives, if they begin to weigh me down.

We don't have internet at the new place yet - posting may be sporadic for a time. But I'll do my best to post five days a week, as I've done all year since this blog began.

When I write to you again, we will be in our new home.