Migraines and Articles and Ramblings: Oh My!

It was a Monday Morning Migraine to start off the new week, and I had to change around a handful of plans, but I was happy anyways because I realized these are far less frequent than they were in the fall semester. Thank God. According to this article, 20% of people in America get them, too. How miserable!

Now that it's down to a dull roar thanks to meds, an ice pack, and a looong nap, I'm pounding away at papers. I'm behind where I'd like to be in my class right now, and it's really starting to stress me out. I wish I could just hit "pause" on the world for a few days so I could catch up. I have to start sorting through stuff soon, too, so I'm not doing any more last-minute packing other than the inevitable packing of necessities the morning of.

Anyway, I think it'd be interesting to make soap sometime as a class project. One of the preschool teachers in TX made "dinosaur eggs" out of soap, actually, so I'm itching to try that. I never thought about making dish soap or laundry detergent, though, but this article makes me want to give it a shot sometime.

~"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." [-Italian proverb]~

Transitioning Home

It's so strange being home knowing that it's not really coming home -- it's a transition away from home...to a new home...even though this will still be home. (If I were Jack Sparrow, I would follow that up with a "Savvy?" because that was just as confusing as half of the things he says.)

[Oh, sidenote. I stand corrected on my last post. I was not 4 when my grandparents moved to Richmond. I was 5 or 6. There. Happy, Dad? "You see sir, I'm doing this for you." ;)]

Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. I love, love, love being here. It's just different this time.

As I sit in my bedroom, my own corner of the world, here in this wonderful home with my family all within an hour of this very spot, I am comfortable. I am happy. And I'm anxious to soak it all in, every last second because I know that soon my corner of the world will

e x p a n d

beyond a bedroom and morph into an apartment, a whole apartment, all my own. And I will be 8 hours from this wonderful home, from my family. And at first I will not be comfortable and I will not always be happy. I will be anxious to soak that all in, too, but I will also be anxious for the comfort and happiness to come along, for it to feel like home there, too.

And it will...it will just take time. That happens with moving anywhere. I felt it with every single dorm room and the house in Texas. In the end it was just as hard to leave as it was to originally fathom that it would feel comforting. I know that when the time comes to move out of that apartment, I'll shed some tears and some smiles as I pack up and think of all the growing up I'll do within those walls, just like I'll be doing as I pack up to move there.

Yeah, life is happening fast. I really and truly believe there could have been no better time for this blogging challenge than here and now. :)

~"You leave home and move on and you do the best you can." ["The House That Built Me" - Miranda Lambert]~

Packing Style

"Pack. Unpack. Repack."

That's from You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown by Paula Danziger. 8-year-old Amber Brown and her mother are hopscotching to the car while chanting this. It summarizes Amber Brown's packing strategy for her trip to London with her aunt.

Packing always invokes a sort of panic.

do i need this? will i want it if i leave it behind? if i don't use this, i'll feel silly for bringing it. well, i'll bring it just in case. do i even need this anymore? am i over-packing? do i have everything i need? have i prepared for all contingencies between here, the arctic, and the equator?

I feel like I should be a pro at this by now, but I still pack like Amber Brown. I always feel like I'm forgetting something.

At least this time I'm starting days ahead of time so I can panic over a greater span of time, ensuring plenty of time to check, double-check, and re-check everything for greater peace of mind when all is said and done (and tucked into the car).

~"Don't forget to pack your courage for your journey to greatness." [-David Weinbaum]~