Take me to tired, I'm bed
Moving sucks.While I love the chance to reinvent my environment, I'm now at the stage where I have a million homeless odds and ends all over my floor. The good news is that I've simplified. I've been mercilessly cutting furniture and unused goods from my life. The bad news is that I've also been tempted to fill it up with new toys and useless yet amusing goodies. (For the love, I own a South of the Border snow globe!) My Enthusiasm never consults my space nor my bank account when she's out shopping.
For more information on our moving frenzy, I defer to my ever-patient and long-suffering roommate's blog. I never realized how hard I could be to live with until I tried setting up house with someone new. While organizing the kitchen with Miriam, I realized an annoying passive-aggressive little habit I have. Instead of saying, "That's a bad place to put that," I say, "I don't know if I would put that there." (At one point, she said, "Well, Efficiency would say that the plastic bowls should go on the bottom since we use those more." I then asked what Efficiency would like for dinner that night.) If I ever get married, it will have to be to a very patient man.
I'm all moved in and cozy. I've alphabetized the DVD's within each genre. Now, I'm just tired -
a tired that doesn't even go away after a decent night's sleep. A little too tired for my office revolution. (I did notice today that 80% of our security guards look like they're going to an audition for Shaft. Sunglasses in the building? Maybe they can join me.)Part of my tired comes from a few weeks of traveling. The last Thursday in July, I got up at 4am, drove to Jacksonville, and caught an 8am flight to Bethlehem, PA. I had a four-hour layover in Detroit. I read Anna Karenina and resolved to carry much shorter books on all future flights. I arrived in Bethlehem at 4pm. Even though he was a long way off, I knew which blurry figure was Mike the moment I got off the escalator. I went with him to work that night and put faces to the names from two months of stories. The Moravian College campus was lush and full of beautiful old stone buildings. And, to make the experience complete, I got to stay in a pseudo dorm room that made GWU's accommodations look extravagant. Friday, I worked on manuals from the DOE while he played the role of sarcastic administrator for the camp. We flirted across the desk we shared. After work, we went for a run and got dressed for our swank dinner out on the town. I wore a red dress, and I made him "pick me up" from my room. We had dessert at a mom and pop joint downtown, and I got the owner to tell us how he got into making his own ice cream and how he chooses his flavors.
Saturday morning, we drove to New York City for the day. One of his best friends lives at Union Theological Seminary with his wife and two year old son. This kid loves "Mike-Cwo-wee" and answers "I do" to everything instead of "yes."
"Should I put the eggs in the pan?"
"I do."
And when people start laughing, even though he doesn't know why, he squeals "Laughing!" and joins in. We spent half of our day with them. While the husband cooked dinner, I discussed faith with his wife (an administrator at the seminary). She was fascinating.
The other half of the day, we walked around the city. We saw great Atta Kim and WeeGee exhibits at the photography museum, and we spent some time in Central Park. He took me to Grey's Papaya for my NYC hot dog (brown mustard and sauerkraut). I had to confess about the blisters I was getting on my feet from the shoes he had warned me about, and then to buy a new pair of shoes. When we finally drove away from the city that night, we were beat. Despite my best efforts, I fell asleep for half of the ride home. He's a good man.
Sunday, we got up and lugged our cameras to the old Bethlehem Steel factories to take pictures.
I've always wanted to go out and take pictures with him. Unfortunately, the only way we could get in was on a tour bus with windows that were not conducive to picture taking. (Mike did not want to join me in climbing over the fence. I realized again that I am becoming my trespassing-loving mother.) I still took four rolls. That afternoon, he took me to the driving range to teach me how to hit golf balls. Now, another guy had once tried to teach me how to golf. He didn't count on my lack of coordination. By the end of my lesson with Mike, I was hitting them consistently but not very far. Baby steps.Monday, I got up at 5am again and took a bus into New York City to research at the Ellis Island Research Library. That experience deserves its own post. I think I'll save that for later.
Tuesday, I flew back to Jacksonville at 11:30 pm, and got back to my apartment at 2am. On Friday, I drove down to Charleston for a bridal shower and to see family that was in town. I got back late Sunday night and had to start moving on Monday.
This past weekend, I finally had to say "no." Some really great friends from college were getting together in Tennessee, and I had planned on meeting up with them. But I hadn't slept ten hours in three nights combined, I would've had to break into my savings, and I would've driven 17 hours (round trip) to see people for 36 hours total. I was a little bummed this past weekend, but I had a good time with the roommate. We met our neighbors, talked, unpacked...good times.
Now, I'm tired. I'm going to be an old lady and go to bed before 10:30. Sometimes, it's nice to be old.
And now, for your moment of Zen...
posted by tara @ 8:35 PM
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