On Sunday, I left April's place and headed down to Durham, NC, where I'll be staying with my parents until departing for my world trip. It was an easy drive with very little traffic and I made great time. I had a great dinner with my mom and dad, tossed my stuff into the guest bedroom and started looking forward to relaxing.
Ha!
On Monday, sure, I relaxed. This was mostly due to everything being closed on Labor Day! I had a nice time chillin' at home with mom, unpacking my stuff, getting situated, going grocery shopping and getting dinner ready for when dad got home from work.
Today, though, was a busy one! I started it out with a nice two-mile walk with my mom. I'm hoping to continue doing this regularly, maybe three or four times a week, to get myself back into shape. In a week or so, I'll start wearing my pack once a week on this walk to get myself used to that.
After breakfast, and shower, and saying good-bye to dad (off to work again), mom and I headed out to weigh my car, now that it was mostly empty. It was a fifteen minute drive to the nearest CAT scale. The reason I have to weigh my car is to get credit for moving some of my own stuff from DC to NC. It went quite easily: this time I used the broom first thing to hit the 'call' button on the scale, which is about eight feet up... about the height of a truck window. In DC, I jumped a few times and scratched my head until I remembered I had a broom in my car. What a sight I must have been...
Anyway, after quickly and successfully weighing my car, we drove to the first of three storage facilities, to check them out and try to haggle a good price. We ended up going to get our nails done first, which was relaxing, and then we went to the first storage place. We decided to go home for lunch before doing the next two, and sure enough, the third storage place was the best. Go figure! I'll be getting a pretty good deal and a bit of extra space, which will be nice.
Once we returned home for good after storage-hunting, I scheduled the movers to come (Monday), changed my renter's insurance policy, checked on my health insurance application (approved, but with a higher premium than quoted) and downloaded all the forms I need to mail back to the Bolling Air Force Base finance center in order to get reimbursed for the move.
Whew! I still have quite a long to-do list before leaving for my trip, but so far I'm feeling pretty good!
Just one thing is a bit weird, and that is being completely cut loose. There's no impending work call, no need to check my work e-mail, I don't have to think ahead to what's on my work schedule... honestly, I feel really out of whack. It should feel good - free! carefree! responsibility-free! - but instead, I feel like I have no direction. In a way, it was nice to have that anchor, that responsibility and feeling of (self) importance.
It's sure to wear off as I continue to plan and prepare for my trip, but it's something I didn't really expect.
Footloose and fancy-free sounds good but so far, it just feels odd.
--Z
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