That’s not a lie. I
have had a lot going on. I’ve missed two
weeks at work, one planned and one unplanned.
The unplanned one was for the sudden death of one of my closest family
members. My cousin passed away of, what
we learned yesterday, a freak heart condition that went undiagnosed for the past 4 years. Actually, that’s not quite right. She was misdiagnosed earlier this year with a
seizure disorder. She was having
episodes of passing out that the doctors immediately attributed to a seizure
disorder without much testing. I
attribute the less than stellar medical care partly to my cousin not having
private health insurance and partly to the area where I’m from (looking at you
NELA) not having optimal medical care.
Anyway, to say that I took the death hard would be an
understatement. We were the same age,
grew up across the street from each other, and pretty much stayed together
every weekend until we were teenagers.
She had a 4 year old kid that witnessed her collapse and, ultimately,
her death. And her partner was working
in another country at the time and unable to reach family much sooner than
I.
I ended up having to drive the 20 plus odd hours to
Louisiana and back again because I couldn’t find a last minute flight under
$1,800 because it was a holiday weekend.
Honestly, at least driving kept my mind busy. And Missouri is a beautiful state. Iowa isn’t my favorite.
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| Pretty sure Iowa doubles as Purgatory... |
Anyway, I was fortunate that I have a boss that immediately
sent me packing when I arrived at work with the news and told me not to come
back to work until my family was seen to.
I know how rare that is in today’s world and I’m very thankful. I was gone around 7 days in total. I was back at work for one week doing triple
the workload because I had to do the previous week’s, that week’s, and the next
week’s workload. You see, the following
week I was moving into my new smaller, more cost efficient apartment.
So I was strapped for cash (traveling+moving=expensive),
working a lot, packing, and just generally stressed to the max. I was also eating a bunch of crap (high
sugar, high saturated fat, nothing green).
I’m so thankful for my two buddies that helped me the weekend before the
move to get everything into boxes.
Otherwise, I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have gotten done.
As of this past weekend, I am 100% settled. All my bags are unpacked, things are mostly
where they need to be, drapes are up, and pictures are on the wall. The cat likes creeping under the blinds and
peering at the people walking past to go to the park. By the way, did you know it’s legal to keep a
rhino in an apartment? It must be
because I’m pretty sure one lives upstairs.
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| I also do laundry after midnight. That’s cool, right? |
Anyway, we’re having a celebratory BBQ at my house (here’s
hoping the fancy grill my landlord let me keep works!) after work. It’s going to be in the 50s/60s tonight but I
figure between the grill, the beer, and the small partially enclosed space, we should
be fine. If not, I can pull out some
heaters and make it work. And I think
the rain has moved on now so we should be in the clear.
What’s your least favorite
state? I think Mississippi is on my
short list too.
What’s your favorite
part of moving? Mine is trying to
find new go-to places to eat.
