I Want the Village

We were never supposed to move to Houston.  My husband and I agreed when we got married that we would never move to Houston; we were united in our sense that it was the wrong place to build our lives, in spite of his professional opportunities there.  Geography has been a tricky puzzle for us from day one, but we believed we would eventually find a way around it.

That was seven-ish years ago.  The surprise we have felt at not hating life in Houston, and even rather enjoying it, has been noted on many occasions in this blog; and has been accompanied by multiple other surprises since moving here.

Happy Fall

Three weeks!  Shameful, I'm sad to have not been writing all this time.  Everyone is busy, and I know that busy is a lame excuse, but I have to be honest when I say that September went entirely missing in the face of the move, and the first half of October wasn't much different.

Since we completed the move into the house, we have had a trip, a family wedding, a wedding anniversary, houseguests, intensive tackling of home-ownership-related tasks, a surprise visitor with fresh-caught redfish from the gulf of Mexico, and even a little (minor) surgery.  Uff-da, as we say up north.

So now, heading into the best part of fall, we are looking forward to some routine, borderline boring, possibly uneventful days.  Here's what's on the short-term agenda: setting up Third Coast Stitch Lab, doing some fabulous fall cooking, carving some pumpkins, and checking out Texas Wine Month events in Hill Country this weekend.

Happy Fall!

MN July 2012 Greatest Hits

Home

During a recent phone conversation with my sister, when I mentioned my hope that hopefully my husband and I will have some part of our lives rooted at 'home' within the next few years, my sister interrupted me, asking me where I think 'home' is.  "You've moved so many times, I just can't imagine where you feel like home is."  I was startled by the question; it's clear to me that I consider Minnesota home.  It made me wonder if what is in my head is not accurately conveyed to the outside world.

I wondered how she would define home, and it got me thinking about my own definition.  I felt a list forming in my head of specific descriptors and conditions, none of which are necessarily: "Home is where you live right now."

Long Haul

My husband and I drove back and forth between the New Orleans area and Minneapolis/St. Paul during our few years of him working in Louisiana.  Those were the hardest road trips of my life.  Twenty hours total drive time and driving conditions that were less than ideal during the seven or eight hours closest to Louisiana.  My first clue that driving through Mississippi would be a test was when I saw a sign for a rest area which read "Security Provided."  The gas stations were no better; I learned to roll up the cuffs of my pants to avoid the filthy floors.  That was also the era where I started traveling with hand sanitizer, a precaution I'd always found silly in past travels.  We found ourselves avoiding water and coffee until we were almost through the state, but it was impossible to clear the state completely without stopping for fuel.

We did that drive maybe two or three times a year during that period, and it wore me out.  So when we were transferred to Canada, at first I refused to drive home.  We were one 3.5 hour flight from home, why would we drive?

Six One Two

Work: Retail

December 6, 2010

Don’t feel like writing, but Mom and her friend that I trust told me that I had to, even if it feels like I have nothing to say.

Late for work, feel nervous.  Hate that I feel so trapped by my schedule.  Chip is in the air over Saskatchewan, we will pass each other in the air.  I am in MSP and want to stay here desperately.  I am supposed to be in YYC already, getting ready for work, but my plans were foiled by fog in Salt Lake City.