December 10

Now it feels like I'm in the home stretch of this transititon.  Today is actually the last Monday that I'll ever work at Odyssey (early next week I'll be in RI to be with my sister).  The parent group is doing a gathering thing for me on Thursday...I did a big thing (for me) and asked Mark to come back east to be with me for that and he said yes.  I'll pick him up at 11pm on Wednesday night and he flies back to Denver on Friday morning.  I have no idea what Thursday night will be like, but I know that I'll be so thankful to have him with me. 

I have a lot to do before we pack the Sube and head west for the final time, so I've started making lists again.  Post office for change of address forms, final purge of the basement, which clothes I'll need between now and when the moving boxes are opened in...May?  June?  It's really impossible to know. 

I bought waterproof mascara.  I cried at work almost every day last week...not huge tears, just enough to wash off the mascara and leave me puffy-eyed.  This is a long goodbye and I have frequent opportunities to tell people what they mean to me and to hear what I mean to them.  Hence the tears.  Hence the waterproof mascara.  I just don't want to pretend that this is easier than it is, because it's not easy.  I know it's right and I know that moving to Boulder with Mark is a great adventure and that this is the right time for me to take my leave of Odyssey...but it's not even close to easy to say goodbye.