Flash forward:
Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Most of the leaves are on the ground; a few linger, attached to branches that now are mostly bare. Autumn was glorious and brief. According to the neighbors this was a more vibrant and mild autumn than some in the past, even though we had 12 inches of snow a couple weeks ago.
Today was partly sunny and mild, in the 50s. The clouds moved quickly across the sky, giving the sun the opportunity to shine warmly between moments of chilly cloud cover. We raked most of the leaves in our yard to the curb last week, where the city picks them up with big vacuum trucks. Easier than I thought it was going to be. We were going to employ a couple of neighbor boys, but we felt pressured to get them to the curb before the vacuum arrived, and the one weekend we asked for help, the boys were visiting family. In between our old rakes and a new leafblower, we cleared the yard relatively quickly.
I have not photographed/documented this move very much. We don't have cute kids to photograph any more - the 6th grader is happy to pose, but not always happy to have her poses shared. The days go by quickly. Although I still feel like a new comer 4 months into our stay here, I feel at home. I have a job, a book club, a walking friend, and a neighbor friend. We have loved having our family and friends visit us for football games. We are happy to sit in the living room with cozy blankets and work on homework, grading, reading, watching a show, etc. It will be even cozier when we get a fire going - an item on my to-do list is to clean the flue. There are still a LOT of things on the to-do list: lights, rugs, chairs, painting, hooks, pictures, etc, remain to be hung/cleaned/purchased. But we feel settled in. We have most things put away, although some need to be reorganized, and we need to buy rugs and furnishings for the basement - I spend way too much time shopping when I just need to settle on something. In the past it has been about six months before we felt moved in; it will probably be about that long at least here before our belongings are where they belong.
But today, I was walking home from campus, and I felt at home. We returned from a visit to San Diego last weekend where we reunited with some old friends and spent time with our daughter, and we reminisced about what a charmed life we had led there. But do we want to move back? We love visiting and having a daughter there, and while I do miss our wonderful friends and many aspects of life near the beach and mountains, I don't feel homesick for California. Rather, when we returned here, I felt like I was coming home. I no longer wake up uncertain of where I am.
Then today we talked for a while at the football game with someone who is moving to Austin - we raved about the people, the trails, the good schools, the low taxes, the warmth, HEB, .... why did we leave? they wanted to know. The job... but more than the job. The roots. It's hard to explain, but there it is.
And here we are, feeling like we belong.
Week 3
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