A Departure...

I'm sure everyone has noticed that my departure date keeps moving back.  I'm leaving now in mid-October.

I am R E A D Y to go!

I have a couple of "events" that I am attending which have delayed my departure.

I decided several months ago to go to Alicia's wedding in Idaho, which is this weekend.  She asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I just didn't want to miss her wedding.  It was basically the difference of a month, so I decided to stay to go to her wedding.  I met Alicia in 7th grade and she has been one of my dearest friends ever since.

The second event is my grandma's back surgery.  You may recall that she had back surgery last October.  I stayed with her for about three weeks after her surgery to care for her during her recovery.  According to her doctors, she has reaped maximum benefit from the surgery she had in October.  She has decided to have a second surgery to further repair damage to her vertebrae.  She turned 79 on Saturday.

My grandma's surgery is September 2nd.  My mom will be there (Oklahoma) a few days before the surgery through September 17th.  I will get there September 14th and stay through the end of October.

I'll then be visiting my dad for about a week.  The coming home and (cross my fingers) leaving about a week later.

So that's the status.

I managed to save my targeted amount.  Yippee!

I need to buy a couple more pieces of clothing for my trip.  Other than packing my apartment and taking care of a few small banking items, I'm ready to go.

I go back and forth between anxiety and confidence.  But like the stylist who butchered my hair today said, "Isn't that what life is about...living your dream?"

A Strange Habit

Moving is, by far, one of the strangest things we humans do.

Every time I move (which is often, by the way), I always find myself thinking how odd it is to pack up every single item I own into boxes that are really heavy and cumbersome, carry the suckers 0r find someone to carry them for me in addition to all my precious furniture (which consists of mostly items from my childhood) out to my car or borrowed vehicle and transport all of my belongings to a new, and hopefully improved, location where everything will have to be transported and unpacked. It's a strange habit.

I probably move more than the average person. Here's a brief look at my moves since I turned 18:

1. 12th & Harrison basement
   
2. 12th & Harrison main level
3. Montview & Rosemary
4. Norman, Oklahoma
5. back into mom's - bummer.
6. 14th & Emerson
7. Bayaud & Sherman
8. Lincoln & Virginia
9. Reinbek, Germany
10. 31st & Zuni
11. 13th & Gaylord
12. 12th & Lafayette
13. Colfax & Marion
    

So, that averages out to a move every year. Do I like to move??? Not really, but I guess it's just something I tolerate well. I think I've moved 22 times in my life. That averages out to about once ever one and one-third year.

Needless to say, I've begun packing up my apartment. I will be storing most of my stuff with my sister, who so generously offered to store whatever I needed in the basement of their yet-to-be-acquired home. I took her up on it. She and her husband have made an offer on a place near the Tech Center.

I've been purging more than packing...literally and physically (Crystal was in town).

I seriously examined my wardrobe, if you can call it that, and got rid of over 100 articles of clothing. Wow. Is that a lot of clothes? Maybe not. How many articles of clothing do you have?

How does someone like me who very rarely buys clothes have so many clothes to get rid of??? I guess by accepting every hand-me-down I was ever given!

I'm looking forward to lightening the load that I move every one and one-third year. I'm hoping to find other things to purge while I'm packing, but we'll see. I was, after all, born to a family of collectors and packrats.