Settling in

Wow. Time flies. I'm trying to finish the semester at school, get started with my student teacher and settle in at our new place. I'm overwhelmed. Add to that, the whole "take it to work, don't move it to the new house" strategy of packing is coming back to bite me in the...you know. I'm looking at the giant piles on my desk and I can't quite figure out where to put it all.

But by far the biggest change has been the drive to work. It's been four years since I had any kind of drive and it's a little bit of an adjustment. I can't leave for work and get there 2 minutes later. No switching shoes in the middle of the day. (In my defense, I only did that the time I wore two DIFFERENT shoes to work. One was matte black. The other one was shiny, brown, fake crocodile. Really.) So I must leave the house by 7:05 and I'm gone for the day once the car starts.

Derek and I live a few blocks off the only street that goes north-south through the entire town. It's a busy street. I miss most of the traffic in the morning by leaving around 7. However, in the afternoon, it's a bear. I've avoided it by going to the gym and running errands in the afternoon. The fun part is that I'm driving some routes that I remember from my childhood. I finally feel like I've come home. On a daily basis, I'm seeing buildings, streets and businesses that I remember seeing twenty years ago. It's been very comforting. I feel like I live in a place with history again. (It probably doesn't hurt that I'm living in a 1950s house.)