And on the 7th day, there was a party.

Ha! Hi everyone. I'm sitting here at my parents' house, using my new laptop to check my e-mail for the first time since before I left. There is no internet access at Katie and Cory's house, so when I can get over here is when I can check messages. Everyone else is in the kitchen preparing food for the "Welcome Back to Ohio, Jenni!"open house that my mom scheduled. I've been banished to the couch to check my e-mail. No complaints from me!

In some ways it's been a really long week and in other ways it's flown by. My fam has kept me pretty busy so I can't mope in bed thinking about all the wonderful MN people I don't get to see every day. (I think I took you guys for granted.) I haven't gotten nearly enough unpacking done, as in I have only located about 4 pairs of socks so far.

Jada is settling in pretty well; I have confined her to my bedroom all week, and in the next few days will probably let her start venturing out into other parts of the basement, and eventually into the rest of the house. We'll see how that goes; Katie and Cory have a Great Dane named Jersey who Jada has not met yet. I'll keep you all posted on that!

More later, friends.

So the trailer is packed. The truck is packed. I said goodbye to most people, some I won't get to say a satisfactory goodbye to.

My heart hurts.

So. Here is the Plan.

My dad is leaving Ohio on Thursday evening (tomorrow? Jeez...) and driving as long as he can, then stopping and sleeping, then driving the rest of the way to Minneapolis, arriving sometime Friday. Meanwhile I'll have picked up the trailer I have rented and filled it up. Friday we will pack up the van my dad brought, and hopefully have some time to sit around and shoot the breeze. Then Saturday, we drive away. We will arrive in Chicago where we will get a hotel room and grab dinner with my friend Steve Matchett, Watchmaker Extraordinaire. Then Sunday morning we hit the road again and arrive in Ohio Sunday afternoon/evening and my new life begins after a good night's sleep.

So many strong feelings wrapped up in a short list of facts.

BITTER / SWEET

I was sitting at a wedding reception with a friend tonight thinking how painful this move is, but how beautiful my life is, and wondering if I would truly appreciate how beautiful it is and has been if I didn't have to say goodbye to it. So that I wouldn't just be sitting there crying, I picked up a pencil and I wrote this poem on the back of a card at the table:

Walking through a fog,

tears blurring EVERYTHING,

every so often I find a daisy,

lit by the sun I'd forgotten was shining.

It ends up coming out a little more focused on the dark stuff, but I think with all the pain of saying goodbye to all of this, I haven't been living in the present much. I've been living in next week. So a reminder of how great it is here hurts, but it's a daisy.

What to pack?

bathroom stuff?

Wall decorations?

random books that I might want to read before I go?

pantry food?

Dishes?

appliances?

I'm kind of at a place where the easy stuff is packed. Anything left, I would not want to pack ALL of it. And I don't want to pack up wall hangings, etc, because those will go quickly, and I want to feel like I actually live here until the last possible minute.