the search continues

You know what?  Picking a new place to live from afar is hard.  We are extremely lucky to have eyes on the ground that are checking out the places we find and finding places for us that they can check out.  It's a pretty good scenario all things considered, but if you know me, you know that I need to get my hands right up in there and see for myself.  It turns out that in the face of stress, control is a HUGE thing for me.  Hahaha, who would have guessed?  With moving day coming up in..err yikes, two and a half weeks, we are starting to feel the stress a little bit more.  Aside from the whole not having a place to live issue, the realization of both of us being unemployed is starting to become more real.   HA.  I don't know why that makes me laugh, but I think it's more of a nervous-isn't-it-hilarious-that-we-are-so-blindly-forging-ahead kind of laugh, and I am doing it more and more often.  I know I always "have faith in the bigger plan" and really do believe things happen for a reason, but as with most people I wish I knew all of the reasons ahead of time all the time so that I could be prepared.  See what I mean about the control?  So, I am trying to take moving across the country with so many unknowns yet to be answered as an exercise in trust and patience.  The reality of the situation is that we are doing as much as we can from where we are, and that is just about all we can do.  We are closing in on the end of our jobs here (one week for me and two for him), and then the next adventure will begin!  Don't think for one minute that this anxiety is raining on our parade over here.  I am the queen of powering through, and both JP and I (and hell, probably Oliver and Yin too) are extremely excited to call Portland home.  The weather has been great for grilling here, and I have been peppering JP with Portland facts and information, showing him beaches and lighthouses we can visit and looking up the google street views of all the apartments we have considered. I think it's safe to say that Maine is going to be very different than Colorado, but we've done the Colorado thing for a few years and now it is time to try Maine on for size.  JP's first purchase for the move was just a few days after I was accepted, and it was an insulated hat/facemask/warmer thing from REI so he will be ready for whatever cold nor'easter blows his way.  What a trooper this Louisiana boy is!

 

Well, so you don't think that all we do over here is worry and wring our hands in desperate pleas for assurances (mom, don't worry, I am remembering to breathe occasionally), I will tell you that we have been shedding our anxieties with some slurpee filled scooter rides lately.  We also dragged our butts to the midnight movie release of the Hunger Games last night, and after working a twelve hour shift prior to the shenanigans, I think I am maaay just be getting too old for that kind of fun.  That, or I really should just give up once and for all on believing that any film version of a book I love will ever live up to the expectations I desperately want them to.   So there you have it.  Apartments, working, hand wringing and some hunger games.   That's life here!

And for the record, Oboe is really trying not to let the stress get to him too much.