The title of this blog is as much an update on the fact that the move hasn’t killed me as it is an update on the fact that Pete and I are still in the process of relocating.

We finished moving out of our little apartment in Asheville this past Tuesday and will be done paying for said apartment the day after tomorrow.  Score!  Score!  Being down to only one residence in this city is nice.  Being down to only one residence, period, will be even better.

The new job is going well, I think.  As much as I wanted out of law, a friend was right when she pointed out that the things I already know how to do are comforting while I figure out how to do everything else.  I think changing careers while relocating and consolidating households might have been too much.  I am learning new software, new kinds of law, a new office, new cases, and returning to a county I haven’t worked in for 14 years.  We are still packing the Charlotte apartment (and 2 storage units) and unpacking the new Asheville apartment, and Pete and I are adjusting to being home together more.  (I sure have enjoyed not making the Friday night commute to Asheville or waiting on Pete to get to Charlotte.  Tonight, I just came home and napped!)  I seem to get along with the folks at work, and I made one person laugh this week.  It’s a start!

I still miss my Charlotte people and places, and I will continue to miss them just like I have missed my Asheville people and places since I left here many years ago.  “Grief is the price you pay for loving someone” doesn’t just apply to death.  I am a person who loves people and makes lots of friends.  That leaves me with many people to miss.  And many blessings.

People will show you how much you matter to them.

This keeps occurring to me during my farewell tour from Charlotte. And it goes both ways, of course.  There are people I haven’t seen, and people who haven’t seen me.  There are people I’ve been in touch with and people I haven’t.  Sometimes it’s just life, and sometimes it’s a slight.  Sometimes it’s fluid perspective, not an indisputable fact about where the relationship actually stands.

I still feel inclined to explain (defend) myself when it comes to the move and job change, but I’m getting better about it. My therapist brought me some helium balloons last night to symbolize me being light and free, letting go.  I am confident in what I have done here – which is my absolute best.  The only thing I could have done better for some is to stay, and that was no longer an option I was willing to entertain.

One of the happiest and saddest things about moving is finding out how much you mean to people, and how much they mean to you. How much you will miss them and be missed.  I have been given hugs, kisses, gifts, cards, dinners, parties, offers to help move, promises to visit, offers of lodging when I visit my hometown…

I am confident enough to know that these people are enough for me, and I feel no voids left by the people who are scarcely aware that I’m moving on.

I haven’t felt this self-assured since I was in college, probably. But I think this self-assuredness is a lot more intelligent, experienced, and well-rounded than it was 20+ years ago.

I wouldn’t mind having that college body back, though. The wining and dining of this farewell tour added to decades of a sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits, and a middle-aged metabolism are looking awful in photos lately.

But improving my physical health is on the agenda for the “new life.” Stay tuned for my appearance in Sports Illustrated’s Average Woman’s Swimsuit Edition!