Early experiences

It's been a week and a half since my last post. Life really does feel different than it ever has before. I'm doing things on my own. I'm speaking to different people with the wondering in the back of my mind if I will speak to them again. When I go to the grocery store, the hardware store, festivals, for the mall, I don't have to see the dreaded Cubs logo. Well, except once every two weeks or so. Of course I have flipped off a couple of Patriots fans.

There have been a couple of challenges to deal with. On Sunday afternoon, I noticed a long, thin crack in my windshield. It went horizontally on the passenger side and covered maybe a third of the windshield. I don't know how it happened, I'm thinking it was on my drive from Newport News to Virginia Beach. Even though it did not impair my driving, I knew enough about these things to know I had to get the issue fixed and get it fixed quickly. So I made an online appointment for Tuesday morning at Safelite. They wound up fixing the issue inside of an hour and a half. The windshield did have to be replaced, but thankfully insurance covered the issue without me paying a deductible. I did eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel while I was waiting. Not the best breakfast, but I did try to play that golf tee game. I got it down to two tees left on the board.

Another issue was my first full paycheck. I had chosen to put that money into my credit union account since I getter a better rate of interest than I would at a typical bank. At the time I did not have a new checking account set up yet. I didn't want to put a check into a checking account that was about to close anyway. So my mother arranged a transfer of the check from the credit union to my new account. And it took 10 full days for it to go through. Thankfully, that got fixed this morning.

One issue that did not end as well was the situation with Cox. The installer had told me that my charge would be $89.99 plus another $18 in fees and equipment. What I wasn't told was that I would be charged more money in taxes and other fees. So I'm paying another $22 a month than I expected. Including $30 a month for a telephone that I'm not even using.

I'm thankful for Dave and Debra, a married couple that I'm starting to become friends with. Dave is pretty quiet, but very generous, and Debra is the sweet one, rather inquisitive and open. We might be going out to lunch this weekend. I've also met a guy named Ira through running. He's a little older than me, and he's an Ira that's not from New York and not Jewish. He is actually from northern Virginia, enjoys his beer, and we've had some good conversations.

But there's a feeling that I've had. It is a feeling that I don't believe I've ever had in my entire life. Now and then, I just smile and I thank God. I have a place to live, I have a pretty darn good job, and I get to go through a period of self-discovery. I'm learning what I want to do, what I enjoy, what I prioritize, what matters to me, and it's making be responsible in a way that I haven't had to be before.

I leave in six days to fly back to Chicago. I'll be hauling a lot of big things out here. Maybe at that point, this apartment will really feel like a home. Right now, it feels like my place to stay. But I'm not sure it feels like home yet. Maybe that's because after this one year lease, they may raise my rate and I'll need to leave. Because if it's just me, I don't need anything more than a 1 bedroom. The master bedroom and bathroom are not even being used right now. And unless my mother comes to stay, it's not going to either.

I also decided to run a 5k for the first time since April of 2014. It will be taking place in Hampton in mid-October. I have six weeks to train. I know I can run it in 25 minutes, I've been doing that for the last month. Most of my fastest times in the past have been between 23 and 24 minutes. My fastest race was also my most recent and that was 22:14 at Willow Creek Church. With six weeks of calculated training, I'm confident I can run it inside of 24 minutes. Beating 23 minutes would be a great accomplishment.