Let It Snow (Somewhere Else)

AugDog is sitting on the floor of my office with me today, since the office building itself is more or less empty on Saturdays when I come in to finish up the second half of my work day. Tuesday - Saturday schedule is actually kind of brilliant. Saturday afternoons are quiet and I can get some real work done, which is proving tough to do through the steady stream of phone calls, emails, and meetings that keep me busy during the work days. I'm actually working 6 days a week for the month of December so that I can earn some extra days off to go home for Christmas. Les left yesterday for Chicago and called last night to tell me he had arrived safely. Aug and I hold down the fort in NC until next week Thursday when we pack up and head out for our 15 hour drive.
And yes, I am blogging at work, but if I didn't steal a few minutes to do it now, I would never get to do it. The work week is a whirl-wind, and we don't have internet at our little house yet. And so, the narratives and updates just keep piling up in my brain but never get a chance to be typed.

This is a beautiful place. And we are meant to be here for now. In some sort of mysterious, adventurous way that both Les and I feel but neither of us can quite figure out. I miss my friends, my routine, and knowing where the heck I am going. And I miss Chicago in some ways, but overall, we're still in that starry-eyed "This place ROCKS!" stage where going to the grocery store is a fun adventure, and we're excited to find a home to rent and start that whole settling-in process.

Here are a couple of quick stories to give you some perspective of the rural life we are currently leading in the tiny town about 20 miles from Raleigh:

• If your miss our exit from the highway and take the next one, your Garmin will direct you to turn onto Lizard Lick Lane to head back in the proper direction.
• Our neighbors have no fewer than 11 large inflatable Christmas decorations billowing and bouncing in their yard to the tune of a 3 minute loop of synthesizer Christmas music, all of which are on full-force from mid-morning until about midnight.
• We went exploring last weekend and passed a driveway for "Cowboy Church  - Come as You Are". It had a silhouette of a cowboy with a big hat and obvious cowboy boots on it, in case you were confused about the dress code.
• Just before you get to our exit from the highway, you'll pass a lovely rolling hill-top pasture full of Oreo cows. You know, solid black torsos and rear ends, pure white middles. They make me really happy.

Wendell is a small town (pronounced win-DELL) with a mix of affluent, mixed-income, and low-income folks. It's actually pretty cute, though parts of our neighborhood are a little rough, and Les says he can smell pot in the air most days. Aug LOVES our little house, but he dislikes going for walks in the neighborhood. Everyone seems to have a dog, but they are all behind fences or chained up to trees, so they just go nuts and bark wildly at him. I don't blame him for disdaining so much negative attention. He ignores it, for the most part, but he is never relaxed outside.

My job is going to be great, I think. My co-workers are awesome, and I know that the work we are doing is important. Most of the volunteers are top-notch. It's a good fit for me, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to come in and help them get some new projects moving. It feels like there are a lot of new things happening here, and that's exciting. I'm finally starting to feel like I am getting the hang of the procedures and daily tasks, so that helps as well.

Anyway, this post is getting long and rather boring, so I'll just say that life out here is pretty good. And, I have to tell you, beautifully warm. If I were the rubbing-it-in type, I'd remind my Chicago friends that while you are enjoying your first snow fall, I'm in a sweatshirt and enjoying 50s and sunny. I miss a lot of things about Chicago, but snow is not one of them.