Sorry about the week-and-a-half-long hiatus. Things have been pretty crazy around the Bonk household. Our computer is on the Fritz, we’ve been apartment hunting, and Charlie turned 1 year old. All of these excuses basically add up to me either not having the time to write a good post, or me sitting down and trying too hard to write a good post. The latter usually results in me getting fed up and not clicking ‘save’.
So, here I am, on my in-laws’ computer, finally feeling like I’ve got something to write about.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet, but we are going to be moving soon. Our apartment complex is raising the rent, and we’re on a budget. I’ve been finding myself looking around the rooms we’ve called Home for almost a year now, and feeling a little unsteady…like I’m not on solid ground.
We’ve spent the last two weeks using our family time (and uber-expensive gas) to drive around looking for ‘For Rent’ signs. Charlie rides in the back with me and eats Cheerios while I scramble to write down phone numbers and addresses and try to avoid car-sickness. It has been no fun.
I’ve been fairly crabby and testy. First of all, I hate moving. Hate. Moving. Secondly, I don’t like meeting weirdos. Not weirdos who could potentially be my landlord, anyway. And finally, I don’t like feeling displaced. I don’t like knowing that in a month, I will be somewhere completely different, and the process I will have to go through to get there will be tedious.
Well, Lauren, imagine how you would feel if your apartment, as well as the entire rest of your town, got violently shaken and then swept away into the ocean.
…I imagine I would feel a whole lot worse.
Most of the people who know me well know that I (almost purposely) don’t follow current events. That may make some people incensed and furious (there are some current event followers I know who are fairly rabid about it, and have let me know the err of my ways on many occasions) but that’s just one of my life choices. This whole disaster in Japan, however, has really affected me. Up until the focus switched from natural disaster to nuclear situation, I followed the Live Blog on CNN obsessively (again, I just know CNN is news, I have no personal opinions as to which news venue is superior).
The thing that gets to me most is the fact that these people’s lives were turned upside down by the ground that is beneath their feet. The stuff they’ve been walking on and trusting their entire lives suddenly up and devastated thousands and thousands of people.
And I’m worried about having to pack up 750 square feet worth of stuff and move it across town?
I think it’s time for yet another personal re-assessment to align myself with what is actually important. Sure, it’s lame that we’ve got to pack up all our crap, find a vehicle with which to move it, transfer our electric and gas and everything else that comes with moving…but at least we’ve got all that crap to move. At least our electricity is available to transfer, as opposed to needing mandatory blackouts in order to preserve it.
I realize there is always something devastating going on somewhere, and we can’t always go around comparing our situations to those in order to keep upbeat. We can, however, periodically remind ourselves of what we have, and be grateful. I’m grateful to know that I’ve got a solid place to set my feet, and next month I’ll still have it; the carpet may be different and the kitchen might be smaller, but it’ll still be there.