Hello Stress, My Old Friend

Yep, the stress has finally set in. My little brother came down over the weekend for the last time in this house and helped me clean out unwanted clothing and DVDs. We spent the whole day Saturday running around; we made three trips to second-hand donation center, sold back DVDs to F.Y.E. ($42!), picked up boxes from our storage unit, bought new bathroom fixtures from Target and Home Depot, ate dinner, and went to the grocery store. After all of my running around on Saturday, I was glad to have a 2-hour massage already scheduled for Sunday. I'm still a little sore from that, but I sure did love having my feet and hands rubbed. Ahhhhh!

Yesterday evening we went to my parent's house for some Sunday dinner and I grabbed most of what was left of mine at their house. This was when everything really sunk in. I am leaving my family behind. I'm leaving the only place I have ever really lived (outside of college). Needless to say, countless tears were shed. I even ended up with one of my most prized possessions that I was not allowed to take from my dad's house before yesterday: my grandpa's trumpet. (My grandpa played trumpet for over 40 years and had his own band in the Big Band Era. He played at a lot of dances in his time.) I took with me a lot of my childhood memories including a box of notes written from my old best friend to me during our junior and senior years of high school. I can't wait to read through those and remiss in the daily stress of a teenager. I came across boxes of goodies from my college days that have been stored and forgotten in my parent's basement until last night. When I left my parent's last night my mother and I said tearfull goodbyes, even though I will be back up at their house all day this coming Saturday. It just really hit us that I am moving far away from my family. I cried the whole way home in the car as I looked over the valley where I spent most of my life and realized what I was leaving behind. The thought, "I hope I know what I'm doing; I hope I like Texas," kept going through my head. I guess I cried more than I thought last night because I woke up with puffy eyes this morning. lol

Now I have mixed emotions about the move. I was so excited the first few days after I received the news. Excitement changed to stress as I realized what needed to be done before we leave. Stress changed to sadness as I realized I am leaving behind my family and the only place I have ever known. Today I am a mixed bag of emotions ranging from sadness to stress to downright pissiness (I think that's the PMS talking [I have never prayed so hard I wasn't pg]). Right now I just need to learn how to stop stressing. My new employer has done everything in their power to make this move as easy on us as they could. What I need to do more than that is stop taking my stress out on my sweetie who is, as ever, a calm, stress-free rock.