Housekeeping

Sorry to all of you who thought this post might be about how I keep my house looking so spiffy. Although, I could try to incorporate a few of those tips just to liven up the mood.  In my long absence from posting, several life events have occurred that I thought were worth mentioning.

May 2012 - Matt and I graduated from our respective universities and can no longer fall into the category of "student". It was such an amazing experience to finally graduate after all of our hard work in the past three years. It almost seemed like a dream. Were we really out of school? Did that just happen? We don;t have to turn in another paper for a grade ever again? We have to pay how much in student loans? Along with the bliss of graduation, came the horrendous job search that seemed to never end. We both applied to over 50 school districts all over the state of Ohio and were about to lose hope, when we started to get a few calls for interviews. Getting a call for an interview is so exciting, until you realize that you have to actually do well in your interview and get the job. So after much stress and fear of the unknown, I was offered a full time school psychology position in Lima City Schools in Ohio. We were so ecstatic to finally have a direction to go toward to look for a place to live. Matt had several interviews and one seemed promising, but it was 2 hours away from Lima. [Random housekeeping tip #1: Always keep bug spray and a vacuum. Bugs are creepy!]

June 2012 - Craziness! I was working over the summer at my internship, and flew home the middle of June to finish planning our wedding. Matt was still working for another week and flew home after that. I frantically ran around to appointments, put together wedding craft projects, tried to catch up with friends and family, and about lost my mind. I had to drive 3 hours out to Lima to fill out some employee paperwork and look for a place to live, and drive 3 hours back all in one day. Whew! I did not find a place to live, but I did find out that there was another school psych position open and told Matt to apply. He did and had an interview the following week. So in the midst of wedding planning, Matt and I took a drive out to Lima together for his interview and to look for a place to live. While Matt had his interview, I called apartments and realtors. It was frustrating because no one allowed pets and we come as a package deal with our dog, Grady. Finally I found a few places that seemed promising. After Matt's interview we looked at some houses, and decided to rent the only one that wasn't falling down. While we were signing paperwork Matt got a call that he got the job in Lima! Super exciting! [Random housekeeping tip #2: Baking soda and vinegar work magic to unclog your drain, or clean your bathtub!]

And four days later we got married! Everything turned out perfect and it was an amazing time. We were so thankful that family and friends could enjoy this moment with us. There are no words to describe how amazing and memorable it was! Props to our amazing photographer, Ashley Lindeman Photography, who took so many amazing pictures for us to treasure our memories.

July - 2012 We left for our honeymoon to Jamaica and had an amazing and relaxing time. We went snorkeling, kayaking, had a candlelight dinner on the beach, went on a sailboat cruise, and enjoyed the sun and sand.

Upon our return to Texas, we had to pack up our apartment, finish working, and move half way across the country. Easy enough, right? Haha. What a miserable experience that was! To make our horrendous moving story short, we were basically delayed four days in our move and had to travel 18 hours straight to make it to Ohio for our appointments before work started. We were scheduled to Leave on July 29th and did not start driving until August 1st at 1:30 in the afternoon. We could not make the drive due to sleep deprivation and stayed in a hotel for 3 hours before getting up to finish our drive. But we made it safe and sound. Moral of the story: do NOT use World Wide Van Lines aka World Wide Transfer. They are a horrible company that does not care about their customers and never return your customer service calls. [Random housekeeping tip #3: To clean and keep water spots of faucets, use wax paper. The same works for dog hair on baseboards with dryer sheets instead]

August - 2012 We started our new jobs as school psychologists and our new lives in Lima, Ohio! Since then, we have been getting used to the changes in school psychology compared to what we were taught in Texas. Some things are very similar and some things are strange. I think we are starting to get used to it. The people we work with are all very nice and helpful. And the students are in need of our services. So all in all, I think we made some good life decisions.

So, yes, we have had a crazy, eventful, frustrating, exhausting, amazing, summer. I am already starting to think of what next summer will have in store for us!

Next!

I have always wondered where the next stage of my life will take me. Even in high school, I could hear the little voices in my head telling me that when I get to college, life would be so much better, easier, enjoyable, you name it; It would be better! Not that  my life was miserable, I just always looked ahead to the next thing and anticipated the new excitement and joy that would come. To my surprise the next stage of my life did not turn out like I thought. It is like standing in an never-ending-line at an amusment park waiting for the hottest new roller coaster and when you FINALLY make it on the ride the twists and turns make you nausious and you end up with whiplash. But you talk it up like it was awesome because that is what everyone expects. Yeah, that's my life.

This has been a running theme in my life and I have come to realize that many people share my frustration with always looking to what is next. This is not always a bad trait. I always enjoy fantasizing about what will come next, weather it be going on a weekend trip, moving across the country, getting married, whatever. It takes my mind off the present worries and stresses that life provides us all. It is a healthy coping mechanisim that has been ingrained in me since my mother would yell at me across the house saying, "You just wait for what's coming next!" after punching my brother in the face and running away laughing. Okay so maybe not the best example. But my mother did prepare me for looking forward to the future when I would compain abut high school, she would tell me that college would be better. When I complained about college, she would tell me that having a job would be better. To her surprise, I went to graduate school and complained some more. I think she gave up after that. However, she is still a very comforting person to tell your worries.

I have realized that in all of my time looking for what is next, I need to learn how to enjoy the ride. I try to go with the flow as much as possible and I think I do this well enough. But when things aren't going my way I always think that whatever comes next will always be better. Well, guess what? It's not! It may be different and new and exciting for awhile, but better? Not sure on that one. If I keep doing this I will be 90 and asking myself where my life went? But I will never find the answer because I will be looking for the next new exciting stage in my life that will inevitably be death. (I hope by that time, I have learned to be happy with what I have).

My new goal is to enjoy what I have (I am very grateful for the priviledges and opportunities I have been given), enjoy the moment, and while I can look forward to certain events and wonder what is next, I will try to be happy in my present situation. Even if it is nausiating and causes whiplash, it could be worse and I should be grateful that I was given the opportunity to get on that ride.