Emuzines

Melissa wrote me a letter (thank you!).  In it, she noted that I handle stress and change serenely, and that if she was doing what I am doing right now, she’d have written lots of “oh my gosh I’m so stressed out” blogs.  I thought, huh, maybe I’m not honest enough in my blogs.  I do, as explained earlier, try to actively ignore the negativities of my move.  But I have had moments of sheer terror (ok, fear…intense fear), I walked into Nik’s room last week, burst into tears, stamped my foot like a 4-year-old denied chocolate (or me as a 25-year-old denied chocolate), and cried, “I don’t wanna move!,” and I have had a pretty consistent stomach ache.  Whew.  There it is.

However, I DO feel pretty serene right now and I’m ready to begin my studies.  And I am happy that my perfect school ended up being in California.  I remember considering such places as Baton Rouge and Albany and other northern New York cities I can’t even remember now, and THAT was pretty scary.  Then I walked into the MIND Institute and met with my future mentor.  It just clicked into place.  She is an icon in the autism field, brilliant, friendly, available, and wonderful.  She is enthusiastic about autism and research and even about ME.  She had all these great ideas for me and planned out my involvement and, heck, she brings her dog into work on the weekends.  As I was leaving she said that she hoped to meet my mom one day, and offered me a job.  I left, stunned, and said to my mom in the car, “I think I have a grad school, a mentor, and a job.  At THIS PLACE!” (it’s gorgeous and, risking further bragging, reputable).  It was just perfect.

I’ve mostly given up on my obsessive fear of forgetting something I’ll desperately need the moment I arrive.  I am armed with toilet paper, Clorox wipes, detergent, and soap.  I am less stressed and finally get Nik’s point that…Katie, we can buy it when we’re there.  I *am* a little nervous about the drive, not breaking down or anything, but about the sheer boredom of it.  I have not done that drive without being a sleeping passenger.  I don’t even GET how I can drive so far as to use up my whole tank of gas and more.  That’s a lot of minutes sitting in the car, awake.  So everyone, please feel free to call me tomorrow afternoon.  I would desperately appreciate the distraction.  And Mom, I’ll call you when I get there.  You can call me after your classes, too, or at lunch.

I took a great picture of JoJo frolicking through our packed stuff tonight (she used Nik’s pile of clothes and brand new suit as a springboard to jump onto the couch).  But, alas, I have packed my camera cord, and I can’t post it.  Lots of pictures to come of moving and settling in.