8 Things I Have Learned

Just got back from driving my parents to the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport for their flight home. It seems a little surreal that they'll be 750 miles away, for more than a week, for the first time in my life. Then again, there isn't a lot about the last couple of months that doesn't seem a little surreal. Gearry landing this amazing and coveted position, in one of the few places that we always said we'd move if we got the chance. The two of us feeling confident enough to say "yes" to it. A month-long separation. Physically moving all of our belongings halfway across the country. Walking around this beautiful historic city and meandering along the beach and reminding yourself/realizing, "Crap... We're not on vacation."

I've been in Savannah for about 3.5 days and much of it has been spent organizing our house (still not done), so I have a ton to learn about this city. However, there are a few things that I have learned so far:

1. The island we are living on -- Talahi Island -- is pronounced TA-LAY-HE, not TAL-A-HI or TAL-AH-HE or any of the other ways we pronounced it in the months before our move. Gearry's students helped him out with some of the local pronounciations ;) In similar news, the island next door -- Whitemarsh Island -- where we do a lot of our shopping is pronounced WHIT-MARSH, like "whit" instead of the color "white."

2. Savannah has only one full-fledged, all-out vegetarian restaurant, but it is so, so good. The Sentient Bean, located on the south boundary of Forsyth Park (think a slightly smaller version of New York's Central Park) downtown reminds me a lot of Soma or Roots or Laughing Planet or some other equally kitschy place in Bloomington. It feeds my preppy-hippie soul (and tummy). Yesterday I had a panini made with BBQ tofu, cheddar, coleslaw, and carmelized onions. SO good. They have tables outside overlooking the park and I am looking forward to spending some long afternoons there with a book and/or my laptop. While The Bean is the only full-vegetarian restaurant that I am aware of, a lot of the restaurants downtown have a variety of vegetarian options since there is a large vegetarian population within the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) population.

3. We are in jellyfish season because of the hot water. Standing on the pier looking down into the ocean, you can see jellyfish, jellyfish, jellyfish, everywhere you look. Not just one or two, but dozens within immediate eyesight, flitting about creepily. The beach patrol has warning flags out for dangerous marine life. There were plenty of people still in the water, but that's because they probably hadn't walked out to the pier first. They're having a lot of stinging incidents and so, as much as I LOVE the water, we'll see if I talk myself into getting in anytime soon ;) My sweet boogie board is calling my name though...

4. Not everyone sounds like Paula Deen. In fact, very few do in the city, thank goodness. I thought the accents were going to be overbearing, but in most people they are only slightly detectable.

5. Like Bloomington, biking is encouraged here. There is a really nice bike trail that follows the Islands Expressway all the way through Whitemarsh, Talahi, and Wilmington Islands, almost all the way out to Tybee Island. There are lots of bike paths downtown as well. I'm looking forward to hopping back in the saddle once I've got things settled here and doing some two-wheeled exploring.

6. There is only one Jimmy John's in the entirety of Savannah. For those of you who know about my addiction, this makes me a little sad. However, the one location is only about 15 min. from my house, in the heart of the historic district on one of the little square parks, so it will make a nice little excursion from time to time when I need my fix.

7. A shopping cart is called a buggy?? I'm not sure if everyone says this, but I've heard it twice already since I've been here, so I'm curious.

8. Lifeguarding this summer should have been called Introduction to Georgia Heat 101, because -- really -- the heat and humidity here hasn't been much different. It's HOT and HUMID, but not any different than what I dealt with for several weeks this summer at camp.

Your Life Can't Fit Inside Boxes

There is something about moving that casts light on the curious balance between material goods serving to make our life better and materials good serving as our life. The hours and hours of sweat that it takes to put all of our things into boxes makes you ask practical questions like "Do I really need this?" while at the same causing you think about all the memories attached to these objects; all the moments in life that they represent and that they may represent one day. Yep, it's a curious balance indeed, but if there is anything that packing our things has caused me to realize over the last couple of days, it is that your life can't fit inside a bunch of cardboard boxes and be hauled on a truck across the country. Life is about the people and the places and the experiences and the love and the faith in something bigger than us. The "stuff" can play an important role, but it's not life itself. I would gladly leave all these boxes of stuff behind and start completely anew if that's what I had to do to get to Gearry and the puppies. My life is not in these boxes... It's already waiting for me in Georgia.

Yesterday, my friend Katie, who was in visiting from Chicago, helped me with the arduous task of wrapping every single piece of glass we own (and we have a LOT of stemware) and packing various other things. This morning, an hour after Katie left, Mom arrived to pick up where we'd left off. If I had to guess, I would say I'm about 90% packed. Mom and Dad are coming up tomorrow to pick up the moving truck and to help me finish the packing. Then -- Friday -- comes the incredibly not-so-fun part: loading the moving truck. Thankfully, I am blessed to once again have friends who jump in and say, "Let us help!" Who actually likes to pack/unpack? No one! That means friends that volunteer to help with enthusiasm as though it would be their pleasure are 1) Really good at acting and 2) Really good in general. Between myself, Mom, Dad, Gearry's parents, and a couple guys from camp, I hope we can knock it out relatively efficiently.

One week til departure!

7 more days of Bloomington... 7 more days until Gearry, Bailey, & Zoey. It feels good to finally see the light.

Bloomington Days

Gearry has been promising for a week now that he would update the blog with his account of his time so far in Savannah, but he keeps "forgetting" and so I am finally giving in and posting because I am spending this Saturday morning/early afternoon sitting outside at Bakehouse, drinking coffee, watching all the people walk by from the farmer's market with fresh baguettes and bags of produce, cyclists zoom by in their spandex-clad packs, runners huffing through today's insane humidity, moms and dads pushing strollers, and other people-watching, coffee-drinking B-Towners like myself. It's just the kind of moment that makes you think, hey, I should share this with everyone because it's so simple yet too good to keep to myself.

Let's see, where are we on July 17th, 2010?

Mom and Dad are currently at Yellowstone National Park. They left Indiana on July 5th and have spent the time since traversing Illinois, Iowa, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana, most of their time spent in the latter. Mom and I speak pretty regularly lon the phone and she's great about texting me pictures of some of the cool things they're seeing, so I know they're having a great time. Their approximate arrival date back in the Hoosier state is July 26th, so I believe they are spending a few more days hanging around the Yellowstone area and then will slowly make their way back.

Gearry is settled in down in Savannah and is loving his new job. I will refrain from sharing too much because I am convinced that I will actually get him to update the blog soon and I would love for everyone to hear about his experiences through his own voice. The guest house we are temporarily renting is in a great neighborhood and he loves the closeness to work (20 min.), downtown (15 min.) and -- most importantly -- the beach (10 min.). He's headed to the beach again as I write to get a little sun, do a little boogie-boarding, and otherwise enjoy life. We're both a little down in the dumps without each other, but reminding each other that the countdown gets smaller and smaller each day. Today? 13 or 14 days, depending on if I decide to hop in my car after we finishing packing the moving truck on the 30th, or be logical and wait until bright and early the next morning, the 31st.

You already know where I am physically -- Bakehouse -- but where I am emotionally is hard to figure out. I never thought I'd miss Gearry and the puppies so much, so it really feels like part of me is with them, and I won't be exactly myself until I join them. I am exhausted from working so many crazy hours at camp, and I am stressed by the fact that within the next two weeks I need to do so much -- like packing the house, which I have still not started since we've been having so many showings -- but there is some joy in my heart for these beautiful Bloomington days and for the adventure I have ahead.

Last Things.

Gearry and I got up at a reasonable hour this morning so that we could enjoy breakfast at his favorite Bloomington haunt, The Runcible Spoon, one last time before he heads out bright and early on Monday. We have a wedding to attend in South Bend on Saturday and won't be home until Sunday, so this morning was kind of our last chance. The weather was gorgeous, warm with a light breeze, perfectly comfortable for sitting outside and drinking coffee and chatting and eating way too much yummy food. Unfortunately, the owner, Matt, who Gearry is good friends with, is in Ireland at the moment, so he didn't get to tell him "bye" which was a little disappointing, but that just means we'll have to come back and eat again on one of our visits back to Indiana :)

Gearry finished packing today, minus his clothes, and we'll be loading his car down on Sunday evening. It's going to be quite a puzzle... A clown car would come in handy about now. We've had a good but busy day. We dropped the dogs off at Mom & Dad's today since we're headed out of town tomorrow morning for the wedding, conveniently detailing the inside of Gearry's car while we were there, and tonight we're meeting Gearry's parents for dinner in B-Town.

I have lots of mixed feelings about everything.

Bliss.

Went out on the boat with Mom & Dad for the last time (at least this summer) and had an incredible day. I think some pictures will sum it up nicely.

Whirlwind

Gearry's last couple of weeks here in Indiana are flying by in a whirlwind of activities, events, get-togethers, and must-do's that has me in disbelief that it is already June 21st. A few brief updates:

- On Saturday, June 12th, we had a going-away cookout for Gearry at Lake Monroe. It was so wonderful to have almost all of my loved ones in the same place at the same time and made us feel very good to know how much we are loved. Thanks to my mom and Gearry's mom, we had tons of delicious food and a very great -- albeit very hot -- evening.

- The next day, on Sunday, June 13th, I participated in my second Hoosierman, a triathlon that takes place at Fairfax Beach at Lake Monroe. I definitely had not trained as hard as I did last year, between working at school and some knee issues that had my doctor telling me not run for two weeks before the triathlon, so I was a little apprehensive, but it was definitely a fun time. I had barely trained on the swimming leg, so I was super slow, but I had a pretty decent bike and I just tried to hang in there for the run. It definitely didn't take me as long to recover as it has from triathlons in the past, so I think I have done a good job of building a pretty solid endurance base with things like the half-marathon. I am looking forward to doing some new triathlons in the Savannah area, including one that I am aiming for on Jekyll Island in October. A whole album of pictures from the Hoosierman is posted on my facebook, but here are a couple of them:

- On Saturday evening, June 19th, as Gearry and I were getting ready for a double date with our friends Catherine and Brian at the Taste of Bloomington event, Bailey gave us quite a scare. He started throwing up, which wasn't a big deal, but he proceeded to throw up 6 or 7 times within a 15 minute period. We had him sitting in the bathtub because he was throwing up so much. We were trying to comfort him when he started shaking violently. He tried to climb out of the bathtub and collapsed. As he tried to get up and make his way to the door, his eyes were very glassy and his limbs kept collapsing underneath him. If you've ever seen someone who's body is shutting down at the end of an Ironman or a marathon, that's exactly what he looked like. It was terrifying and, later, as Gearry and I discussed it, we both admitted that we thought he was going to die right there on our bedroom floor. Needless to say, my puppy-mommy-instincts kicked in and I grabbed him and we ran for the car. Because it was Saturday, no vets in Bloomington were open, so we had to hightail it to the emergency vet in Indianapolis. That was a very scary hour in the car, followed by a very scary hour and a half waiting to find out what was wrong. Thankfully, the vet had good news. The "seizing" and passing out was a side effect from the throwing up. When you throw up that many times, it can activate a nerve in the body that causes you to lose consciousness. The cause of throwing up that much is still a mystery, but he was a little dehydrated and had not eaten all day, so they think that played a part. He had every diagnostic test you can imagine run on him (seriously, $800 worth) and he is perfectly healthy. They wanted to keep him for 24 hours to keep an eye on him, make sure he was eating and drinking, give him some IV fluids, etc., so we finally got him back around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday evening. I've never been more happy to cuddle with my little guy last night.

- In other puppy related news, after much debate, we have decided that Gearry is going to take the puppies with him next Monday when he moves to Savannah. Originally the plan was for them to stay and move with me at the end of July/beginning of August, but because my job at camp is requiring many, many more hours than we had anticipated and I would be home far less each day than Gearry will be, we decided it was best for the dogs if they went with him. It's not fair to them to be stuck in a crate for 14 hours a day with only a couple of quick walks from the dog walker. I'm very sad at the prospect of not only not having Gearry for a month but also Bailey and Zoey, but I know it is what is best for them, and I know they will also help keep Gearry company while he is alone for that month. So, we ordered a travel crate and I'm doing lots of petting and hugging and spoiling while I can.

Exhaustion.

Started my summer job at camp this week. Let's just say it is not exactly what I expected, but I'm going to try to make the best of it. Totally and utterly exhausted. Fortunately, we do not have a camp next week and it will be Gearry's last week in Indiana as well, so at least that works out as far as spending some quality time together before the month apart.

Bed. Now.

Changes

Life seems like one big change right now, which is a little exhilirating and a little scary at the same time. Even just sitting in my living room today, doing absolutely nothing except watching "Family Guy" and cuddling with the puppies, I realized that in just a couple of months I won't be able to ever do that again. I mean, there will be tons more "Family Guy" and puppy cuddling sessions, but they won't be in this living room, because it will no longer be our living room. Those times will be 700 miles away. I keep going back and forth between wanting to enjoy every last minute here and feeling uncomfortable being here now all seems so temporary, so unsettled. I think I liked settled. Then again, it seems every time "settled" comes around we get the urge to make a change, so perhaps I'm not as much of a "settled" person as I think.

Either way, I'm committed to eeking out every ounce of fun, relaxation, and good times that this summer can bring and have one last fantastic Indiana summer to remember (for now, as we never know what the future holds). The summer is looking a whole lot brighter after Gearry found out yesterday that instead of starting at CIS on June 18th, his new start date is July 1st (to coincide with the start of the school's fiscal year). Therefore, since today is his last day at the resort, that means three whole weeks of Gearry! It will be the most I've seen him... probably ever. We already have a list of all the things we want to do before he goes... Drive-in theatre, lots of lake & boating time, lazy days at the clubhouse cabana bar, dinner at Story Inn, etc., etc. I hope that three weeks together will make the month we'll be apart a little easier to handle. I start my summer job at camp on Monday, so I'm going to be working quite a bit these next few weeks, but it's nice to know that when I come home at the end of the day he'll actually be here.

A lot of people keep asking me what my plans are for Savannah. I am hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed for a teaching or teaching assistant position and have started sending out some resumes. Like the public school system here, the Savannah-Chatham system is in dire financial trouble, with something crazy like a $35 million budget cut. That makes things a little challenging, but since it is such a big system, they are still hiring a few positions and I have applied for those. There is also a HUGE private school system (one of the largest numbers of private schools in a city that size in the U.S.) and they hire a position here and there, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled. Most hiring will likely be done in the couple of weeks (or even couple of days) leading up to the start of the school year, so I unfortunately have to be very patient. If the beginning of the school year comes and goes and I am still jobless, then I will subsitute or tutor or both, whatever I need to do to get my name out there. I would be completely fine with serving for another year as a teaching assistant, so I'm hoping that if a full-classroom job doesn't pan out, a paraprofessional or some sort of assistant job will. I just want to be in a school, doing what I love.

I'm learning more and more about the area we're going to be living in through internet research, talking to people who live there, travel forums, etc. Our neighborhood, Talahi Island, is a small island between two larger islands, Whitemarsh Island and Wilmington Island. This world of "island suburbia" is halfway between downtown Savannah and the beach. The islands are highly residential, although they do have their own restaurants, shops, etc. From where we are living on Talahi Island, we can access an 8-mile bike path that leads all the way out to Tybee Island and beach life, which is pretty cool. I should have no problem staying in shape there! We also learned that Tybee has a very strict no-dogs-on-the-beach policy, so if we want to take Bailey and Zoey for some beach strolls we'll have to do it at Hilton Head (just to the north) or one of the several beach areas to the south. We also learned a little bit more about our "duplex" we are renting for four months. Actually, it's not a duplex at all. It's an attached guest house/mother-in-law-suite of a large home on the island. So I guess technically it really is a duplex, but not in the traditional sense. The house looks really nice and we're happy to have found a place in what seems to be such a nice neighborhood.

Let's see, what else have we learned? Oh yes, I discovered today that even though it is the south and when I think of southern cooking I think of meat, meat grease, and gravy, Savannah has quite a few restaurants downtown with vegetarian options, mostly because it is home to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) and you gotta cater to those hippie vegetarian art students :)

A woman who I have been communicating with via e-mail who is from Boston but owns a home in Savannah and spends as much of her time there as possible, with intentions to retire there in the next few years, has been giving me lots of wonderful insights on the culture of the place. I asked her about the attitude toward northerners who move in there and she offered this: "It is quite a cosmopolitan small city. So many 'Yankees' have moved in that a lot of the 'old south' of the place is gone. We are ALL over the place so its not a novelty being a Yankee. There are great people and there are jerks everywhere, so once you ignore the accents, we are all the same."

Alright, so if I can only get past the accents...

Bound for the Coast!

If you haven't heard the news, I am happy to tell you that Gearry recently accepted a full-time faculty position at the Culinary Institute of Savannah and, therefore, we're of course moving to Savannah, Georgia! Happiness is the main emotion surrounding this big change in our lives, with a little bit of sadness and anxiety thrown in for good measure. OK, a lot of anxiety on my part, not so much on Gearry's part ;) While we are very sad to leave behind family and friends here in Indiana, we feel incredibly blessed that Gearry happened to find his dream job in an area of the country that we happen to love.

Gearry has been wanting to make the move to teaching culinary arts full-time for some time now. He's been teaching a class each semester at Ivy Tech, as well as recently taking on the role of Progam Coordinator for their culinary arts program, for the last couple years and quickly realized he had both a passion and talent for instruction. Not only is it a field that he loves, but it is also so much more conducive to family life (i.e. actually getting to see each other) than the restaurant/resort field. He'll be making more money while working less than half the hours a week that he works now, and he will have weekends, evenings, and holidays off, as well as fall, spring, winter, & summer breaks... Hard to beat that!

We randomly came across the job opening way back in early March and, seeing that it was in an area that we both love, Gearry applied. We thought it was probably a long-shot, as the position was bound to be very competitive. However, a few weeks later in April we were happily surprised when Gearry received a call inviting him to interview. He flew down in mid-April to interview and teach a demo class, and he thought it went really well. However, days began to pass, then weeks, and still no word. We kind of resigned ourselves to the fact that it wasn't going to happen. Then, suddenly, while Gearry happened to be on a business trip to Chicago for the resort just last week, he got the call from the Dean that they wanted him. It was kind of a no-brainer.

We just listed our condo on the market and are in the process of hammering out all the many, many details that come with a big move. We know a few things... After many stressful hours on the telephone and internet, we finally found a temporary lease today. We wanted to rent a place for a few months so that we can house hunt (or long-term lease hunt, if we don't find anything we want to buy right away) and it proved very difficult to find a short-term lease, let alone a short-term lease within our budget, as we wanted to take on a lease with the idea that we will also still be carrying our mortgage (although we are hoping our condo sells quickly and that won't be the case!).  We happened upon a little duplex in a nice part of the city, on Talahi Island, about 10 min. from the beach and 20 min. from Gearry's job. Our little temporary (4 months) home is indicated on the map below with the red dot:

It's just a one-bedroom, so we'll have to keep a lot of stuff in storage while we house hunt -- assuming that we sell our condo. We don't want to carry two mortgages, so we'll rent as long as we need to, but we both enjoy owning our own place and are looking forward to the house-hunting process.

Let's see, what other details should I share? I have begun the teaching job hunting process, e-mailing various people, sending resumes and such. The public school system there is in sorry financial shape, just like those here in Indiana, but they are still doing some hiring and there is a very large number of private schools, several of which also currently have jobs posted. I'm hoping to get either a teaching or asssitant teaching position lined up this summer, but as a lot of hiring happens in the couple of weeks before school starts in August, I may have to be patient and hoof it out on foot, resumes in hand, in those days just before school begins. Everything else has seemed to work out for us so far, so hopefully this will too.

Gearry is moving down on June 14th, beginning his job on June 16th. However, I have a summer job commitment that I don't feel right backing out on and I would like to be here to try to get the house sold anyway, so the dogs and I won't be moving down until August 2nd. It's going to be a long month and a half apart, but we'll make it work.

Okay, tired of typing for the moment, but I'm sure you're also probably tired of reading ;)