Monday, March 21, 2011

The Arizona Chapter.

Scarlet & Henry
I sit so serene and joyous at my Gram’s antique secretary’s desk that I refinished in a thin wash of white, bathing in the magic of Adele’s new (amazing) album, fantasizing that I could sing like that, and finally gaining some semblance of calmness in my life again.  I’m not sure of everyone’s definition of calm, but mine is starting to appear.  Our new puppies are laying on their bed spooning at my feet, they are the greatest puppies ever, we love them so much :) I now have my own transportation to get to my new job, which I love so far, we are 99.9% unpacked, and I have Tavche Gravche in the oven nomnomnom.
Reverse three weeks… the road trip across the country in a Uhaul through what essentially was a 3 day blizzard was quite the adventure and led to two unexpected overnights in cheap hotels in order to avoid death-by-folk-unskilled-at-driving-in-the-snow or rocketing off the freeway ourselves due to awesomely high-quality Uhaul tires.  The scenery was beautiful however, see more pictures here:    https://picasaweb.google.com/enger.emily - and we made it safely and were greeted by the sun and 80 degrees of joy.  We scored and found a great house right away, and were able to move in before I even had to take the Uhaul back.  The next couple weeks were a blur of money spending, furniture buying, house supplying, grocery shopping, etc.  I, by some miracle, got the first job I interviewed for, doing the work I want to be doing, for the kind of boss I want to be working for, with the kind of organization that I never thought I would be at, but which I am enjoying immensely and learning an incredible amount about another culture.  The Ph.D. will be going on the back burner for awhile but I feel that my educational desires are definitely being fulfilled in other ways.  I’m also working on a project with MyBillOfRights.org to install a beautiful monument of the document in Bolin Plaza, downtown Phoenix.  It is a fabulous organization with an important message, check it out :)
James officially proposed on March 3rd…as I was waking up he was on his knee bedside, this time with a ring. I said yes of course :) Wedding to follow in 2013…
Still decompressing from the brief-but-highly-impactful Peace Corps experience.  I met some really wonderful people that I will never forget.  I became slightly more cynical about the world through my individual experience, but I’m gaining the humanistic optimism back with time…though at a different angle.   I’m sure the more time that goes by I’ll be able to more comfortably describe my experience. 
In May, I’m headed to California to join my best friend and her family for the NorCal Ride Ataxia, which was started by Ash’s cousin Kyle. Kyle is one of the most amazing humans I have ever met and feel blessed to know him.  He is an inspiration to human kind. There is a documentary about him and Friederich’s Ataxia coming out soon, watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMD6YfZeXV8.  Its ok to cry, I do every time.
I’m getting very slightly acclimated to Phoenix, and those of you that know me well know that I’m incredibly directionally and distance impaired.  The only thing that helped me survive in Seattle was seeing the water. So down here, you can imagine that I have nothing really to help me in that department.  Thankfully, I got a Droid which saves my ass regarding navigation.  I can finally get to work and back without it now, which makes me worry that having constant GPS in my hand may further impair my ability by causing my complete dependence on technology rather than trying to learn how to tell where the hell I am and how far 1 mile actually is. 
Entirely new things this move has brought into my life include a car payment and living with a male as well as sharing a bed with him.  I’ve always been very lucky to have not had a car payment, but starting fresh here did not facilitate that privilege.  Signing that paperwork was definitely a stressor, but a necessary evil.  And anyone that has also moved in with a partner understands the adjustment that comes with that.  An interesting ride, but a very fun one at the same time :)
All in all, the chaos spiral has nearly come to a point once again and life is pretty fabulous, as it generally is.  This past few months have definitely been a bifurcation point in my life, and I feel that I’ve come out on the upper half of it and am fully equipped for the next phase and chapter. I'm happy to be home in the states and moving forward.

Onward and upward,
EM

2 comments:

  1. Life is figuring out what you don't like many times until you finally find what you do like. I'm so happy for you Em. Prayers for you and for healing for your mom's boobie.

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  2. The secret word this time was "Voshes" - i like that word. Life is full of many VOSHES - it's ok to vosh now and then until you find what you like.

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