singed, by not burned out

I received a change of address confirmation for one of my accounts yesterday. It changed my address from Lisle, Illinois to Lisle, Illinois. As many times as I have moved, this one already gets the "most-challenging" award for address changes. One company even reverted back to a previous address! Even though I've been unemployed, I feel like I have a full time job right now just getting new bank accounts, fixing things that went wrong while I was away, and repacking my belongings to fit in my car.

I spent a little over a day at my Aunt Shirley & Uncle Glenn's house at the beginning of the week sorting through my possessions, and labeling them into one of three categories: garage sale, mailing items, and stuff to squeeze in the car. I put 10 boxes in the mail and managed to combine the garage sale and car items in one load after that! Now, I have a bit of restructuring to do in my car.

My time in Illinois is quickly coming to a close and I can feel that I have accomplished a lot. Thursday my body told me with a near-midraine that it was time for a break. So, I watched a movie in the morning and eventually got going.

The highlight of the time spent here is seeing friends and catching up from the past six months. Emily and Erin made time for one last "girl's night" before we all move in different directions. We used to meet every week for a meal with Emily and conversations of life, career, school, and love. I think those long evenings taught me that it was ok to spill over the sides of the mold that society creates for us (hence, my trip to Antarctica and some of my other quirky idiosyncrasies). Their love and friendship is treasured and the close proximity we shared will be missed as Emily and family move to a new house, Erin & Ryan move to Kentucky, and I head off to Washington.

I've spent some time at a track meet, marking the progress in athleticism and character of the athletes I coached, and chatted with Brandi, perhaps the most "natural" javelin thrower I've ever known for a morning. I had coffee with Jay to catch up with the story of his family and life. I've enjoyed dinner with Dave and Mary, Erin and Ryan, and Phil, Jen, and little baby, Ashley, too.

Today, I'm out enjoying the weather. It's just over 70 degrees and sunny outside. I ran out to the REI garage sale and ended up with a nearly-new pair of glove liners, and the coolest camera tripod ever. My camera loves it so much that it took a self-portrait to show you the new set of legs. I fixed my windshield wiper fluid squirter (or rather, I pretended like I was just going to buy the part and fix it myself, asked all kinds of questions about how to do it and how much the labor would cost if they installed it, and ended up with two nice gentlemen at the Honda dealership to install it for free).

This evening I will mix and match an outfit from the remainder of clothes I have (hopefully) suitable for a wedding and then begin filling up the car again for my trip west.