Homeless in These Foolish Things

Time for a super quick update from the road!

Where did I last leave off? I think I’m gonna have to bullet this bitch.

• Remember my apartment flooded on Christmas Eve. I saw that as a clear sign that I needed to make a move. A HUGE sign for a BIG move.

• During that time, I was already in negotiations for a job with a company in a city three hours away. They had already sent me an offer letter and I’d countered and I was waiting for a response back when the flood hit. What timing! What a smack in the face!

• Christmas came and I discussed the possible move with my family. They were much more excited than I thought they’d be! It was like permission to take this opportunity and run with it. I’d only be a little over an hour and a half further drive away, and I feel good about my bro and SiL living in the same house in case anything happens. It was such a relief knowing that they felt great about it.

• After some more back-and-forth, accepted the offer and negotiations with my apartment about me getting out of my lease penalty-free due to the flood began. Those negotiations were just as intense as the job negotiations! Why are these situations so hard for me? I’ve always been told that I’m a tough negotiator, and I think I’ve gotten better over the years, but they still cause a lot of stress for some reason.

• The packing began. The packing was made even more difficult by the fact that I’d picked up a cold during all of this. I also noted that I had so much more STUFF in the Treehouse than I’d had at my little downtown apartment. I’d essentially furnished the whole place since I’d gotten rid of much of my furniture downtown and I had a lot of other shit to lug around. Question to myself as an afterthought: why am I carrying around boxes of cancer shit? I don’t need that stuff. I did finally take my emergency chemo clean-up bag to one of those drug drop-off places, but I kept a lot of paperwork that I’ll never, EVER go back and read.

• I stayed up all night on Thursday, sick as a dog and packing my little heart out.

• Movers took FOR-EV-ER!!!

• But during all of this I finally got the official approval to break the lease. I signed the paperwork as the movers packed all my stuff up. That was a BIG relief and will save me about $8K during the move. However, the move itself is going to be more expensive than I thought due to excess shit. In the end, it’s not going to matter because my new company is going to be paying for this move, but because the company is small, I still have to do all of the upfront shit and keep track of it all.

• And once the movers left, I looked around the Treehouse and just sobbed. I’ve never been so attached to a place before. I cried harder for the loss of that space and place than I have for the loss of loves. I know that the reason is because I put so much of my heart and soul into making the Treehouse a place of comfort and peace. I moved during cancer treatment. I made it a beautiful refuge. I recovered from chemo-sick on the sofa with rays of sunshine beaming in from the big windows. I had friends and family come stay. I healed there.

• And it all ended so abruptly. Again, a bold sign to make a bold move.

• And now, homeless. But not in a scary way - in an adventure way! I’m typing from a hotel room that my insurance company secured for me. I am considered “displaced” due to the flood and termination of my lease. I have been sleeping for a good day and a half and will get up after I finish this entry, shower, walk the dog, meet a friend for coffee, and then head down the road to [my new city] to continue the search for my next version of the Treehouse.

• It’s a LOT, I know, but ready or not, here I come!!

GS