She Persisted

He said it was like boiling a frog, if you turn up the heat slowly it won't jump out. Not the most positive analogy, but I get what he's saying. I've been moving so slowly that last night it caught him by surprise when  I said that tomorrow I should more or less be done. Suddenly he it has come upon him quickly, suddenly he's cooked.

In many ways it has been slow. We met in 2015.  I remember feeling in 2016 that the upcoming winter, would possibly be the last I spent where I was living, I didn't see myself staying there much longer.

It's been a long road between here and there. We are well beyond the honeymoon phase. Is that how it works for people who date for years before they move in or get married? We've had some pretty big ruts on the road. And soon after I tentatively gave a move in date months ago (for April), my partner was laid off. Yet more bumps along the way.

So it's still bumpy and unsure, and is this the road for us, or are we getting thru the hard stuff first?

Today things felt lighter, there were a bunch of synchronicities this week with a job. It was one a recruiter contacted my partner about. He applied yesterday and today she contacted him to schedule a phone interview for next week. He is really interested in the job and feels positive about it. I'm grateful for the opportunity and his enthusiasm.  It doesn't have real good bussing options which is something I was really hoping for to give us transportation flexibility. Though when they expand one of the rapid bus lines near us that may be better. I'm surprised it is such a big corporation that there aren't express buses headed there like they were to his last job.

One of the sychronisticies is that the CEO (she is one of the 5% of female CEO's in Fortune 500 companies) is talking in a forum on public radio on Monday. The tickets are free so we are going to check it out. I wasn't very excited about it at first, I'm not a fan of big corporations, but who knows, maybe this is a chance for me to open my mind/heart. It is pretty remarkable that my partner just heard on the radio yesterday morning that this forum is happening next week. It will be the day before his phone interview, so a great opportunity for him to get a sense of who is heading the company.

A couple other synchronisiticies - my journal always just happens to end at shifting points. I looked at it a couple weeks back and thought it still had quite a bit of space, probably wouldn't be done before I moved. But I have less than a page left.

Also I try to get my haircut at shifting points too. For example, right before I met my partner (2-3 weeks), I decided to get a big haircut and donate my hair (8 or so inches).  I had no idea consciously that I was at a turning point then, but something in me clearly knew.

The last haircut I had was last June in Spain.   So I've known I could use one for a while.  I impulsively found a beauty school near where I'd be today and had it cut this afternoon.  And when I was driving back with my last load of stuff (minus a few things like my bike), I ended up behind car with my favorite bumper sticker, one I hadn't seen or thought of in many years

Remember Who You Wanted to Be

It had a number of others too and one that drew me was

She Persisted

That certainly has been true in my relationship, but even more so thinking back on all these years I've been living with my father.  Years that began with me finishing a decade of traveling and moving around and exploring and then landing at home, uncertain what to do with myself.  Uncertain for a long time - going thru the motions of life (part of what inspired this blog).  Sometimes, for a long time, feeling stuck there.  Yet now all I see is goodness, goodness and gifts.  Ushering my mom thru death, ushering my niece into life, time for spaces and silence and creativity and not knowing.  Precious precious time.

She persisted.

Today I persisted with a quick stop at the library to pick up the Phantom Tollbooth audio.  Despite all my planning, looked like it wasn't going to come in at the right time for my camping trip with my niece in a couple weeks.  It is SO delightful and I'm so excited to share it with her.  I wanted to have both the audio and the book so we can listen to the audio on the drive and read more before bed in the tent.  It didn't look like the audio was going to come in on time (waiting list), and I know just reading before bed wouldn't take us far enough to make starting the book worth it.  This is one major drawback of not being in a child's life on scheduled/frequent basis, it is challenging to read a book together, one of my favorite things.