This is not a drill, people! I am officially moving from the DFW area after living in Texas for thirty. Fucking. Years. I’ve never done anything remotely like this in my life … which is partly why I am, I guess.
A while back, I’d mentioned once or twice that I was fighting a lot with my then-boyfriend (whom I jokingly called my I.T. Guy if that gives any clues about how we met) and that I’d gone and lost my damn job, too. Our lease was up, we finally just broke up, and I decided that everything had dovetailed nicely and the stars had aligned etc. etc. and I was finally gonna get the hell outta Dodge.
There are too many bad memories now for me in this city (my beloved husband was critically ill for a long time with West Nile Virus, and died a few years back - to be honest, I’m still thoroughly grieving his loss) plus my parents and in-laws live nearby and I’d rather not bump into them. Most of my friends have moved on, anyway, and - this is a biggie - I am motherfucking tired of the motherfucking heat. Have I mentioned I lived in this state for thirty years?
It’s time to move on.
I chose Michigan because a.) it’s north of the Mason-Dixon and has 4 seasons, and b.) they’ve legalized it and yes, those were my two main requirements. My plan is to stay with an acquaintance (she’s a close friend of MY close friend, although we’ve met only once or twice before) and her husband in their spare room, near the Grand Rapids area, for what damn well better be a short couple of weeks, so I can look for someplace to rent in person. I do NOT want to become one of those couch crashers who never leaves! There’s cheaper housing the further you go from their area towards Detroit, of course, but it is very difficult to tell remotely what the exact neighborhood is like. There’s so much gentrification going on right now that some blocks are quite nice and right next to them, not so much. Ideally I’d love to rent a small house with its own fenced back yard so my pets can go outside, but we shall see.
I still need permanent employment although for the last couple of weeks my full focus has been on packing & wrapping up all the logistics of moving myself, my cat, my two snakes, some plants, and several dozen small rodents. (I breed a little species called multimammates or African soft-furred rats and make a nice side hustle selling them locally, mostly to other snake owners. Lately, those sales have been my entire income, so between that + the fact that, well, I LIKE this little hobby of mine, I’ve determined to take some of each of the color lines I’ve currently got & re-establish that in my new home. They literally are housed in plastic storage tubs modifed with ventilation mesh windows and water bottles, so basically, those guys are already packed!) Right now it looks like I’ll be overnighting somewhere near or in Joplin as that’s the halfway point, and my only hiccup or hurdle will be the carful of living things that need to at least be protected from freezing overnight. I really REALLY don’t want to schlep all that into a motel room for one night but that may have to be what I do, potted bay tree and all. Afterwards, all my crap will be in a warehouse somewhere besides what I can stuff into my tiny little car.
So there ya go. I know I talked about all this before the holidays and then was silent, but, well, life got really FULL you know? The movers will be here IN A WEEK (!!) and I guess I’ll actually be ready but anxiety has be convinced there will be a horrible last-minute flurry of panicked flailing about. I’m excited and very much looking forward to a fresh start, and I just want this part to be over with now.
WHEEEEEE!! It feels nuts moving to such a snow-covered, icy place in the middle of fucking January, but I keep reminding myself how miserable it will be here by next July. I’ll be escaping all that! Learning new wildflowers and trees and birds.
Fingers crossed for decent traveling weather!