There seems to be a lot going on but very little to talk about. One item to note is that March appears to be our last month in Columbus. It hasn't sunk in. It slowly is, but not to the point of being panic-stricken with things to get done. It certainly throws our lives for a loop. Moving, of course, is going to be our biggest task. And where are we moving to? We want a house but know that making a smart purchase on a house in the next 30 days is impossible. I thought we were supposed to have until August!?! As with everything else, life happened and now it's up to us to make the most of it. We'll still get that house... probably even before the summer... which is even sooner than what our previous goals had in mind.
Will I miss Columbus? I will, even though I never really made the transition into full-fledged citizen. I kept my job in Cincinnati, which meant I wasn't able to experience a real "work" atmosphere. I dove into a sport that isolates you more than just about any other sport out there... besides swimming. We traveled on the weekends a lot, but that's not unusual. I feel like I tried to try... maybe that's the best way to describe it. I played volleyball for most of the summer. I played dodgeball with that same group for a winter (one sport I'll never try again). I attended CSCA events as much as I could. I ran races all over the city... a lot of times by myself. I even volunteered at a couple. I got an office space outside of the house (that failed miserably). So, did I give my best effort? Probably not, but I worked five to six days a week, ate dinner with my wife and took care of all the other things that life throws at you in the course of a week... not to make excuses, even though that sounded a whole helluva lot like one.
A part of me is bummed that it didn't work. I could continue on with the excuses as to why it didn't, but I'd rather run a few more of my favorite routes while I'm here and have the time. I'll say goodbye to my old friend, the Olentangy. She told me stories while my legs ached on the many long runs I ran next to her. The sycamores that lined the banks and kept the heaviest of rain off my head. The squirrels, the hawks, the ducks, even... the geese. I'll say goodbye to the Scioto where it had been dammed up at Griggs Reservoir. The boats that would silently glide atop the water before there was a light in the sky. Their bow lights like ghosts in the dark. I'll say goodbye to the quarter-mile stretch that cut through a corn field and got me over to Beekman Park. How a 90-degree turn to the right could completely change one's perspective, I'll never know. Some routes I grew to loathe and I could never got enough of others.
So we'll try this one more time. I remember standing on my brother's deck staring out onto McMillan Street and at the glow of Hughes High School in the night. I was smoking a cigarette and thinking that this was it. I was 18 and in a week, I'd be a college freshman. I'm sure the same glow radiates off Hughes on early September nights, but instead of feeling so far away, I'll realize just how close I am.
The pictures above have nothing to do with moving at all. We spent Sunday at my brother's house celebrating my niece's 2nd birthday. My sister bought the girls sunglasses which were a hit. I wish I had gotten a good picture of the both of them, but this one of Kendall sums it up. And their snowman still cracks me up. The weekend before that was spent on the west side celebrating my birthday, along with Erica's sister's and brother-in-law's birthdays with crab legs. Yessir.
