Looking Ahead

Are you getting tired of these posts dealing with moving, and my mundane schedule for the week?  I suppose I would be, but for the moment, they're very helpful to me in sorting out my days.

So, looking ahead, here's how the rest of the week is shaping up...

Tonight I'm hanging out with L.  After living together for the last 2 years, it's been a bit odd not to see her for the last several days.  And tonight is the big "goodbye".  She leaves the country on Friday, and becuase of my lack of a car, and her flight schedule, I won't be at the airport when she leaves.  So, this is it.  It seems a bit weird to be at the end of this chapter of life.  I wrote in a card to her last night that the last 7 months or so in particular, living at our apartment, just the two of us, have been a time where I really felt that healing was finally beginning to take hold after some very hard years.  In a time period where the community I'd thought I'd found a home with evaporated around me, she was one of the only steady influences and friends who remained.  And more valuably, when my expression of faith looked totally strange, or I dropped off the radar of church attendance, or came up with entirely random weekend trips to walk and take photos and pray, she never made me feel judged, and instead often laughed, indulged me, helped me laugh at my own crazy actions in response to Jesus' leading, and frequently tagged along, taking photos, helping with the driving, making me smile along the way.  We made living together and cooking together work, despite my many quirks and constant need for alone time, and we laughed a lot along the way.  I'm going to miss sharing my "you work in a soap opera" moments with her, sharing the cooking, and just the general laughs.  I'm also no longer going to have a use for quite a number of words that have crept into my vocabulary in the last three years of living with Kiwi's.

So, tonight we're planning to have dinner, see a movie (our former landlord gave us a gift certificate for that for Christmas, and we've not yet managed to use it), and hang out for a bit.  And say goodbye.  At least for now.  (I'm already dreaming of finding a way to make a trip to New Zealand a reality.  Anyone want to tag along?)

Tomorrow night is house church.  Because of my carless state, I'm actually meeting one of the other girls from the house church for dinner after work, since we work near each other, and catching a ride with her, since she generously offered this up as a solution to my transportation issues for this week.  I missed the gathering last week, because it was on a different night of the week than usual, and I was in the final throes of packing my life into boxes and couldn't unbury myself from that long enough to emerge and join them.  I'm looking forward to time with the community that are now becoming friends, praying and worshiping and sharing together.

And then comes Friday.  Friday night is going to be my catch-up night, I think.  Deal with some administrative stuff that will get pushed these next few nights as I enjoy time with friends.  Prepare a grocery list and do some meal planning.  Work on the unpacking situation.  And rest.

Saturday morning will be for more unpacking and settling in chores.  Saturday afternoon I have a natural health treatment scheduled (it's been a while since I've had one, and I'm looking forward to it, since it usually helps with my messed up sleep schedule), and after that I'm hanging out at my parent's house for the afternoon, doing some stuff with my mom, and likely some errands as well.

I'm actually quietly anticipating the next few days.

Wondering what they'll hold in terms of the continued attempt to adapt to my new living situation.  Hurting a little as I ponder saying goodbye tonight.  But feeling at peace as well.  And that, my friends, is something for which I've learned to be thankful.  Because those weeks and moments tend to be few and far between for me (though happening more often these days - a fact for which I'm also very grateful.)