A week of lasts

Today I walked to my local neighborhood farmer's market for the last time.

I have loved this weekly market, and even at times when everything else seemed to be going poorly, I could always count on getting a little pick-me-up by heading down my street on a Sunday morning. The positive atmosphere and my favorite local grapefruits would work together to make me feel better. I have eaten these grapefruits (almost always from the same farmer) about 95% of all mornings that I have lived here, and I will miss them.

Last Tuesday I had my last night in my bed, and Wednesday I said goodbye to all my furniture. I've been sleeping on an air mattress, and our large living room now contains only a little card table and some folding chairs, and the TV propped up on a built-in shelf. I am packing up my few belongings, hoping that they will all fit in my car, and avoiding thinking about what I may have to leave behind if my car is smaller than the huge pile I am hoping to stuff into it. I hate this state of limbo, but it will be over soon, and thankfully I'll be arriving home to a place that is 95% unpacked (for which I am soooo grateful).

Last week I had final sessions with 14 clients. Next week I say goodbye to 3 more. This is the last weekend I'll be spending in San Diego, but also the last weekend I'll be spending without my husband. While I am in the mix of being excited and sad, I have to remember that this week will not be the last time I see the new friends I have made here-- for some, I already know when we will see each other next-- and this makes things a bit easier.

I can feel the end/beginning creeping up on me, and one thing I am sure of, is that there will be lots of "last minute" stuff that pops up in the next 5 days!

Counting Down

After today, I have 8 days of internship left. As I am working on closing out my clients in those 8 days, I have a total of 18 hours of client contact left, between my individuals, intakes, and groups. Jeff will be arriving here on the 29th, and I am going to Seattle this weekend, for one last visit before moving exactly 2 weeks from today. So, all told, there are only 7 more days of long distance relationship left, and a total of 11 days left in San Diego (subtracting out this weekend, while I'm gone).

I am having those mixed feelings that come with endings and beginnings. Because while I'm ecstatic about returning to live with my husband again, and so excited about my new home, my new neighborhood, and my new job, I am also starting to get sad. I'll be leaving behind some incredible friends, a job I have actually really loved, and a city that I didn't realize I'd like as much as I do.

It's the curse of the good life-- when you have places and people you really care about, you are doomed to have a lot of pain when, inevitably, you have to separate.

New Home Part II

Here is a first image of our new home, and new little garden:

Isn't it cute?? I am so jealous that I wasn't there to help get the garden started! Also, now I am in even greater debt to my very sweet husband-- he spent most of the day working on the garden, and he did it all just for me. He was very clear that if he was going to be living there alone, he wouldn't have bothered to put in the work, but he was happy to do it because he knows I want a garden, and I won't be there in time to get it going myself. So once again I owe him big time. Although I think he is also proud of his accomplishment:


I am sooo excited about having garden space again! It's not a huge space, and our plants may face some challenges (mostly from shade), but we're going to give it an honest shot.

I got so excited about the garden this afternoon that I did something pretty silly. One of the very best things to plant in a garden is potatoes, but it's really almost too late to plant them, and there aren't any seed potatoes left at garden centers in Seattle-- I actually called around to find out. I really wanted to contribute to our garden effort, even though I'm a thousand miles away. So here's where the silly part comes in-- I ordered some seed potatoes online. They were pretty cheap, but they're relatively heavy, so by the time I paid the shipping (priority mail was the cheapest option), we *might* break even in terms of how much the seed potatoes cost and what our eventual yield from them would cost at the grocery store. And that's *if* they grow well enough being planted this late, and in our partial sun location.

But somehow it feels like it's worth it, because growing food is just so much fun-- I get a huge kick out of it, and I'm always a little amazed that it actually works. I sort of feel like this guy.

Future new home

Last week, Jeff moved into what will be our new home up in Seattle. He found us a very cute house to rent up near the top of Queen Anne hill, which is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. The house is walking distance from nice restaurants and shops, but the neighborhood is also very residential, which means we are also walking distance to parks, and it's quiet and homey. And, since the neighborhood is at the top of the tallest hill in Seattle, there are some lovely views.

The house itself is also incredible-- the largest home we've ever lived in, with tons of space for us, and a great little yard that has a bit of space for gardening. It's on a corner, set back from the street, so we don't have many neighbors to worry about, and don't really have to worry about traffic on the street either (our kitties will be safe in the yard). I have only seen the house one time, for just a few minutes, but I can't wait to move in.

With all that is good, there has to be some bad, and the main bad is that I'm not there yet and won't be for a month. The end of internship is approaching (3 weeks, 2 days!), but until then, Jeff is in the house all by his lonesome. This also means that he had to 1) find the house all by himself, 2) decide on it without having me to weigh in on it, 3) pack all of our stuff, 4) move all of our stuff all by himself (with the help of some movers for the big furniture, 5) unpack all of our stuff all by himself (still in progress), 6) deal with all of the other stuff that comes with moving, like address changes, setting up utilities, etc., all by himself, and 7) purchase furniture to fill in some of the extra space (still in progress, but Jeff also did an amazing job of finding us a really good deal on some badly needed living room furniture).

Basically what this adds up to is that I am one lucky woman. When it's time for me to leave San Diego, we'll just be packing up my car, driving north, and when we arrive, the house will be waiting. My dear husband did an amazing job finding this place, and an amazing job doing all the moving-related stuff on his own, and I owe him big time.

It's a good thing our new place is near the best doughnut shop in Seattle, because next time I'm up there (in two weeks; my last visit before moving) I'm going to have to start handing out rewards for jobs well done.