Looking Back, Looking Forward

Just as I knew it would, the last two and a half weeks have passed in what seemed to be a blink of an eye. Here's what I've been up to: worked all night, worked all night again, slept all day, shopped, cleaned the apartment, went to a surprise dinner and Nutracker show at the Fox, which actually moved me to tears, sister from Montana came to town, shopped some more, made a bunch of gingerbread, dressed up in ugly Christmas sweaters and drank a lot with old friends, drove to Canton for my favie's family get together: exchanged presents, ate delicious steak, drove to Roswell for my dad's side of the family get together: exchanged more presents, ate a whole bunch of melt-in-your-mouth crab legs, drove to Louisville, KY to visit my mom's half of the family: exchanged even more presents, ate some yummy Christmas ham, shopped some more, returned a few gifts that didn't work out, hiked to a waterfall and back, wished we could stay longer, drove back to Atlanta, had lunch with an old friend from high school and shopped some more, looked at some houses in Roswell, didn't find any winners yet, had dinner and drank several pitchers of Sweetwater with old high school and college friends, drove to Athens, dressed up in a 70's outfit, partied down Funkle Ester style, drank a lot more and danced till my feet were about crippled, almost froze to death, had breakfast in bed, drove back to Atlanta again, took a nap, watched the Sugar Bowl in good company, did a million loads of laundry, ate a delicious home-cooked meal, and checked out mortgage lender #3.

And that pretty much brings us to the current place and time: my apartment, my couch, 7:54pm. You would think I would be a little more exhausted after all that, but in the spirit of the new year of 2008, it seems that things are just getting started. Tomorrow we leave for our annual ski trip to Vail, CO with my dad. This year I am thoroughly looking forward to sailing along fresh powder trails, whizzing down the groomed ones, and a total body ass kicking, seeing as how the last real exercise I got was sometime in September.

After we return from Vail, I'll have about a week of sore muscle and bone recovery time before starting my new adventure at Piedmont Hospital. The good news is I've worked at Piedmont before, on this very same unit, and that I am finally leaving the dark side behind, as I will be back on day shift. The bad news is the same people that I didn't get along with so well when I worked there before are still there. But I think it will be better this time around since I already know what to expect from them.

Anyway, not getting along well with people at work is the least of my worries right now. A matter that has become much more pressing is finding a house to buy. More and more I have come to realize that our first house will certainly not be our perfect dream house. I think I already knew that though. The magic of buying a first house is more about owning something really worth owning. And the only thing that will make it perfect is the fact that it will be ours together. It will be some sort of combination between what we can afford, where we can afford it, and the things that are most important to us in a house and a neighborhood. It will probably be more modest than impressive, but it will be what makes us happy. I know it's out there. We just have to find it.