I did it!
It has been an interesting few months. Our first days and weeks in Chapel Hill were fraught with doubts as to the wisdom of my decision to ask my family to move up here for me. The kids missed everyone back in Georgia. John immediately had to travel back for business, leaving me alone with sad children, a house full of boxes, and stresses over important UNC emails I had missed.
But it has gotten better. John still has to travel to Georgia regularly. The good thing is, he is working. He is earning money and supporting us (supplemented by my stipend). We are hopeful that we'll be able to cut down on his travel even more in the new year. When he is gone, it just gives me a chance to practice summoning the serenity to be a loving solo parent to our strong-willed children. I've also made some good friends, one of whom has kindly spent many an evening with me and the kids being a cool person who comes to visit them and giving me a little adult back-up.
Virginia and Horatio have adjusted. They have made lots of new friends and enjoy their school. They get to play soccer every Thursday, which is the highlight of Horatio's week. Virginia's teacher is really good accentuating Virginia's positives and always has glowing things to say about her. V just celebrated her 5th birthday at a local teaching farm with friends from her class. She got to ride a pony!
We have been back to Georgia several times as a family to visit, so the kids still get to see the people they miss. They have even gotten better about car trips. Virginia enjoys the audio books John and I listen to. Horatio plays with toys, or just his hands (complete with airplane noises).
The thing that has been really nice for me, though, is that I love what I am doing. Not just the idea of what I'm doing or the future of what I'm doing. I'm content right now. (Maybe that will be bad later, when I have to move on, but I suspect it will work out.) This semester I've met great people, relearned how to read scholarly articles (yay!), helped write an encyclopedia article, learned how search engines work, and read a lot about jokes. When I wake up in the morning (besides, truthfully, wishing for a little more sleep) I am excited about my day. Every day. I'm excited to go to school during the week and I'm excited to spend the day with my family on the weekend.
I do need to find more opportunities for storytelling, both practice and performance. But I have been to one show here. I've been in one show here and a couple back in Atlanta. And I have a possibly foolish plan for joining the summer reading fray in 2015. If nothing else, I'm certainly living more stories.
Let the holiday festivities begin!
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