Relocating

After finishing up work in NC, going through almost every item I owned and deciding what to take and what goes, and packing, I headed south to start a new chapter in my life. On the morning dog walk the day I left NC, I saw the horses that live at the Rachel Carson Reserve for the first time. It felt like an omen that everything was going to be OK. Initially, I was worried about the trip down. I was worried about pulling a trailer 10+ hours on the road, about the toys tied down to the roof racks flying off, and about which route to take. The approach I decided to take: staying present and sticking w/ my gut on making decisions, the outcome: the trip down went so smoothly I've been waiting for the inevitable bad to happen to balance out the yang.


I drove half way to my destination and stayed the night in Columbia, SC. There I met up w/ a friend of a friend and got a bite to eat at Hunter and Gatherer , a local restaurant and brewery located downtown. Come to find out, it was one of the few places I had been to the one other time I had been in Columbia, to interview for a graduate student position ~7 years prior. Wow, has it been 7 years? It seems like just the other day I was in Dr. H's lab running soil samples looking into graduate programs...


I pulled in the small town in SW Georgia I would soon call home Friday evening an hour before the sun set. Mr. W met me at the little house he was renting, which I soon fell in love with. Since I moved to NC, I had been looking for a small house to call home and it seems I was just looking in the wrong place. This little house is everything I have been looking for and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to live in it.

The winds are a changing

Things are coming together, winding down, and amping up all at the same time. This is my last week of work in NC and I am excited, nervous, and trying not feel overwhelmed. Thankfully, I have plenty of time before I start the new job.

It is times like this that my perspective begins to shift and I see the town I have been living in differently. Winter dog walks on the beach, something I did not do often in the past, become a weekly occurrence. The beach in the winter was never something I particularly enjoyed. Once the water was too cold to dive into, I generally quite going to the beach. However, the weekly dog walks on the beach stir something and I feel a little sad to not have enjoyed the quiet winter beach, tourist free with open room for happy dogs to run.

This like other little things become more apparent. The restaurant that had a delicious soup and 1/2 sandwich lunch special, wine tastings at the bakery downtown, the quirky shops some of which I recently knew existed... why didn't I enjoy these things more during my time here? One thing I have noticed... things always seem more appealing when you are either leaving or visiting. Why is that?

Toys and contemplation

This blog started because of a purchase. The purchase of a digital camera.

Like a cell phone, I did not foresee myself succumbing to the technological advances of the times. I know it is practically impossible to imagine someone not wanting a cell phone, as they have infiltrated our societies, but I was reluctant. Similarly, I was reluctant to buy a digital camera. My enjoyment of photography was in the organic process that occurred in the dark room while developing the film and creating prints. Therefore, digital photography was not very appealing to me. However, without access to a dark room and the equipment necessary to carry out that which I enjoyed so much, I decided to buy a small point and shoot digital camera that had a few manual capabilities. The instant gratification of being able to see the pictures was overwhelming and soon I knew I wanted a DSLR. However, the expensive price of the newly coveted device made it inaccessible.

Now, after years of desire and saving, I am ecstatic to have just purchased a DSLR. The past few weeks have been filled with research, educating myself on the DSLR products available, seeking advice from friends, determining the best price for the products, etc. What a relief it was to finally make a decision and purchase the equipment. I felt as though I was starting to go crazy, chasing my tail in circles with all the information.

It does not surprise me that the resurgence of this blog coincides with the addition of this new toy. Somehow, I find it quite fitting. This purchase accompanies a large transition in my life and the resulting myriad of emotions, thoughts, and changes that occur internally and externally. It is during times like these that I seek refuge in posting.