Week One: A Smashing Success

It has now been one week and two days since I moved to Savannah, and I have to say: I LOVE IT!

The city is vibrant and charming, historic but updated. There are fun things to see and do everywhere I go. Even the very modern and somewhat bland Southside (where I work) has neat things to check out. Please don't get offended by me calling the Southside "bland" if you have any particular attachment to it. It's just that living less than a mile from the riverfront, and only about a block and a half from Forsyth Park, makes the strip malls and big box chains that dominate the Southside seem rather pale and boring by comparison.

Last night I went to Club One to see The Vagina Monologues and had a great time strolling around Bay Street before the show. I was still home at a reasonable hour, since downtown is only about 5 minutes from my house if I hit every red light. Joy is coming to visit for a few days next weekend and I can hardly wait to go exploring with her...especially for the St. Patrick's celebration!

The unpacking is going well, though slow. I only have a few hours each night to work on it, so it's taking a while. But I'm not rushing myself either. What's the hurry, I'm the only one that has to deal with living among boxes. I think that subconsciously I may be putting off unpacking for fear that my apartment will look barren once all the boxes are gone!

An interesting occurrence got me thinking the other night. I had just finished putting together my new futon, A.K.A. "Joy's bed," and decided to snap a picture of it. When I had done so, I scrolled through the other photos on my camera that I hadn't downloaded yet. It was a bit shocking to realize that it has been almost 3 months since I downloaded anything. The time frame itself is not what shocked me. It was the fact that the pictures on my camera served as a slide show of how drastically my life has changed in that short period, as illustrated below.

For starters, the oldest photos on the disk were from Thanksgiving in Montreal. Ian and I drove up to spend the holiday with Alana and Xander. It was a very stressful time for me as Mom had just gone into the hospital to be treated for the blood clots and I had nearly broken up with Ian the night before we left. But I love spending time with Alana and Xander and the trip, overall, was great. They have the kind of marriage that I long for: they are real people, each others best friends, who are so utterly perfect together. I loved talking to Alana about crafting and Xander about math, helping them pick out a Christmas tree and squeeze it into my coupe. They are just awesome and probably among the few people who could have made it bearable to be away from my family at that time.

Just after the photos from Montreal (of which I decided not to post any of me and Ian together, time to move on and all that) were pictures from the week between Mom passing and her funeral. I already mentioned before just what an amazing blessing John was for me during that time and the months that followed, but I can't say it enough. He saved me.

After the trauma of the wakes, funerals, memorials, losing my job and breaking up with Ian, the task of surviving the holidays took center stage. Dad, Joy and I didn't really know how to handle Christmas this year: ignore it completely, pretend like nothing had changed or something in between. We opted for in between. Dad and Joy picked out this little Charlie Brown-esque tree and we decorated it with one strand of lights and two ornaments. We exchanged just a couple gifts, including the few things I could find that Mom had made or bought for us. Needless to say, it was tough.

After spending several weeks at Dad's trying to sort through craft supplies and figure out what I was going to do with my life, I decided to drive back to CT, pack and get back down South quickly. The drive north was interrupted by my interview with CCCS, but was a very good chance for me to think and sort things out in my mind. I got very familiar with the I-95 scenery during my 3 trips...

From the end of November to the middle of February, I spent a total of about 3 weeks at my apartment. Sheesh. But it did give me time to visit with a lot of my really good friends who I know I will miss seeing on a regular basis. It was hard to say goodbye, seeing as I have I have lived in CT most of my life. But I know that distance alone is not going to several those those ties.

I worked my butt off to pack all my belongings into one storage cube and then had to fight to get the company to deliver it on time. As with so many things lately, it worked out in the end and Dad and I had the whole thing unpacked in about 4 hours! Unpacking all the boxes, however, will take a bit longer!

My kitchen, once nearly everything was unpacked. This really is the heart of my home and I can't rest easy until it's unpacked and set up.

The futon! It's surprisingly comfortable and I'm sure it will come in handy often. I still have a few more pieces of furniture to find, but I'm not really in a rush. I would rather wait for the right piece instead of just throw something in there. Not to mention the fact that I despise the new trend in furniture: huge, lumbering mounds of sofas and gaudy colors.

I was treated to a pleasant surprise this morning: the flowering tree in front of the house had baptised my car with snow-like petals! I took a drive to the flea market in a fruitless search for some recycled furniture, then spent a good part of the day catching up with my friend Kelly.

That visual trip through the last three months made me realize that I don't regret a single choice I've made. This is where I need to be. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time and that alone has been worth it. I love my new job and the fact that I'm closer to Dad and Joy. And I realize that the one regret I toyed with, that I didn't do this sooner, is silly. Things happen and choices are made and the most we can do is try to make the right choices at the right time.

For example, at the moment I'm sitting in Books-A-Million using the WiFi (since I don't have Internet at home!). I'm going to make the choice to grab some groceries then head home for more unpacking. But who knows what will happen...seeing as how it's about 84 degrees and sunny, I may take some time to go for a jog around the park first...