Second Sunday

Several happy events today already:

1. I found a Whole Foods.
2. I found a French Bakery and a Graeter's Ice Cream across the street from said Whole Foods.
3. For the first time ever, I watched the movie "Better Off Dead". I will always love John Cusack.
4. I also watched "The Sound of Music" which put me in a positively good mood (redundant, I know.)
5. I went for a walk around Victorian Village and Harrison West and visited a park.
6. I did NOT thumb through the classifieds.
7. I enjoyed NOT sweating in the shade.
8. I found a bar of soap I was looking for.
9. I ate whatever I wanted and didn't feel a lick of guilt.
10. I treated myself well.

A week later

I've been waiting for a certain piece of equipment to arrive so that I may finish a project and post it. Till then, let me just say that this has been the longest week I've experienced in a while.

It's a strange experience to relocate in an effort to change one's lifestyle. It's a completely frightening prospect when one is also responsible for others at the same time. I spent most of this past week dutifully trying to find a residence for David, Pai and I. It took me a week of looking at places and coordinating the best possible solutions. We have certain needs. I'd like to be close enough to walk, bike or bus to school while NOT living amongst frat houses. David and I both want to be able to walk to cafes, markets, a pub. I would suspect, proximity to biking and walking trails would also be attractive to David. For Pai - she needs a little bit of green space, a fence, a little scenery and some not-so-obnoxious or threatening neighbors - whatever that means. Most importantly we need to be able to transition from owning our own home to renting - which is weird. It feels a little backwards. I can go round and round about my responsibility about finding a domicile for us, but I know that I can only search so much. Usually, the right spot finds you, not the other way around. For now - I'm subletting an apartment from a current dance grad. It's a nice place, but not dog friendly. My sublease is up at the end of July. For August, I have another apartment sublease that accepts a dog and will be big enough for all three of us. It's not ideal in that David and I will be about 20 years older than all of our neighbors - but it's just for a month. Sept 1st we'll move into a single family home. I can't wait! It's a cute cape cod-style house and I think it will be a good home. I'll be happy to make a home with David again. It may have only been a week that I've been gone, but it feels a lot longer.

My reaction to all this change varies as can be expected. I'm doing my best to just observe things as they happen and get to know my way around the town. At night I have disturbing, vivid dreams, but I know they're really just little things surfacing. Things will eventually calm down and I'm looking forward to it. I'm really just trying to remain calm and be present.

“Ideally a painter (and, generally, an artist) should not become conscious of his insights: without taking the detour through his reflective processes, and incomprehensibly to himself, all his progress should enter so swiftly into the work that he is unable to recognize them in the moment of transition. Alas, the artist who waits in ambush there, watching, detaining them, will find them transformed like the beautiful gold in the fairy tale which cannot remain gold because some small detail was not taken care of.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

Arrived!

Sixteen hours of driving completed!

Happy Independence Day!

The Day Has Arrived

A certain day became a presence to me:
there it was, confronting me - a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic - or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.
- Denise Levertov,
"Variation on a Theme by Rilke"

Procrastinating instead of Packing

Our house is too comfortable to start packing things away!

Last Day

Today was my last day at Chapel Hill ISD, but also, really the last day as a Network Administrator. Chuck, my boss, gave me a wonderful plaque - not about my achievement in technology, but about my spirit and the new journey I'm beginning. It was a wonderful gift that I will treasure because it truly marks a significant time in my life. The following quote is another good example of what my new focus is all about:

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.” - James A. Michener, writer

Last weekend in Henderson

Saturday came early. David didn't sleep at all. We had a successful garage sale though and David kept his cool even though it was 100 degrees outside.

Brandy and Chris drove up from Houston for the weekend. They brought their two dogs, Chachi and Hemi - two really small dogs, tiny in fact. They helped us clean up after the garage sale and get ready for the rest of the guests for the weekend. Andy drove in from Tyler and Steve made it from Paris (I think). Carrie suffered a flat tire, but managed to make it from Ft. Worth in a record 5 hours - the longest trip in history. She also brought her tiny dog, Rexi - and here she is with Pai and I...

The rest of the weekend we all played with Chris and Brandy's Wii. My goodness, that thing's addictive and fun. When we weren't playing games, we were eating food. Fun and yummy times! We're going to miss these weekend retreats, but hope that people will be able to join us in Columbus for a new adventure. Such great friends!