Where Did it Go?

May? hello? I seem to have missed you as you whizzed on past my life.

I sit here, realizing it's June. June! This is the month the anticipated Supreme Court decisions come out. This is the month that is the first official month of summer. This is the month I move.

Seriously? Indeed. Three weeks from today, the movers will be here at my house, getting all of my household goods on their truck. Three weeks?! I feel so unready.

Oddly, the timing is similar to last year. But with the selling of the house and all, it took me much longer to grade final papers last year. I also was busy selling the house then packing. I also spent many evenings with friends, saying good-byes and celebrating Fort Worth.

But this year, I don't need to do much packing at all. I don't have a house to sell. I don't have the many different groups of friends to make final plans with. And this leaves me with much more free time to feel like I should be doing something I'm not.

I knew, in planning my trip to Jax to find a house, that I couldn't go too far in advance of the moving date. (Owners don't like to hold a rental open for too long.) Of course, that makes it hard in terms of planning as I cannot go ahead and take care of things like connecting utilities, making mail / change-of-address arrangements, etc. But when I think about it, I'm headed there the same week that I came here to Memphis last year. The only thing I can figure is that because I'm not so consumed with selling and packing that I feel more unsettled with not having a house. Also, the realities of the difficulties I had last year of finding a place linger in the back of my mind, making me nervous for the trip coming up in two weeks.

But I'll find something. I just will. And that'll be that.

In the meantime, I've just about finished the initial article I've been working on for the last year. It's turning out to be much longer than I'd expected---close to seventy pages now. I've sent it to a colleague to read and provide comments, and that makes me nervous as can be, but I've not heard back from her yet. I know sometimes people say they'll read something then they're busy and they just don't get around to it. Really, I get that. Still, it's hard---the waiting. And work won't be over when that's done. In the next two weeks, after all, I need to finish my syllabi for the fall and get in some work on the next article (target completion date for that one is Jan. 6.)

And in the meantime, I'm still waiting for my wiring to be repaired. I've been able to put off laundry for now, but too much longer and I'll have to head to a laundromat. Not something I want to do around here. But it seems the owner of the house is unavailable to provide repair approval. I have to keep reminding myself this is not an emergency; still, it's awfully inconvenient and frustrating.

And in the meantime, Howard and I continue to sneeze. My head is less congested today than yesterday (so hopefully I can get the finishing touches on that article today). But Howard was up the last two nights, scratching his ear too much. Looks like we're headed to the vet today for that. Sigh.

And in the meantime, I'm making the list of the last few places I want to visit here in Memphis. So for the next two weeks not only will I have a lot of work to do, I will play tourist too. (I work better if I spend about five or six quality hours on a project then step away from it. So no, my work isn't the typical "eight-hour-day." Hey, this is summer time, after all! ;-) ) I don't have too many places left on my list, but enough for a couple of late afternoons.

May? I have no idea where it went. Last time I thought about it, it seemed like weeks and weeks before I'd be leaving Memphis. And now, it's just 21 days away. Alrighty, then, Here we go.