Honestly, I did think I’d write more once I arrived here.
I thought I’d have all sorts of things to tell you about my adventures in a new country, a new city, a new job, a new community of friends.
And it’s not that I don’t, not at all. Lots of fantastic stuff has happened in the five months since I got here, along with some challenges that I’ve faced with good old Canadian ingenuity (and exceptional politeness.) It’s just that so much of it is so personal… I don’t even know how to begin sharing it without perhaps exposing myself (and my guy) a little more than seems appropriate anymore. I mean, I’m not concerned about being open, but now it’s not just MY story, it’s OUR story… and somehow, that makes me more inclined to limit what I broadcast to the universe (or the tiny portion of the universe that happens by here, more accurately.)
But it’s exactly five months today since I got here.
I thought it was five months yesterday (which is what I told Gradon), but I actually flew in the morning of April 30th, with lots of luggage and hope and no shortage of jitters (and joy.)
Happy five months to me! And to him, who has had to put up with me for those five months.
Let’s recap in point form:
Five great packages from my mom and dad
Six pedicures, ecstatically received
2 pints of Ben and Jerry’s
Multiple visits to Whole Foods
Ridiculous amounts of laughter with Gradon
Many hours lost to stalled/slow trains and buses
Occasional insecurities at how stylish I am NOT, in comparison to Bostonites
One dramatic fall up the stairs in front of my poor boss (in a skirt!)
Hundreds of great laughs with Tamsen
Days of listening to E. give me video game play by play
A few awkward moments of hoping Gradon’s friends didn’t feel pressured to accept me
One case of food poisoning
A few tearful phone call endings with my mom (I kept it together until I hung up)
Many, many post-work evening events, the most boring of which left me wondering if I was missing anything good on American Bravo TV (which is vastly superior to Canadian Bravo TV)
Dozens of Netflix moments
One dinner at Ten Tables, my favorite restaurant in all of Boston
Endless patting of dog heads (there are four lovely dogs at the Sametz Blackstone brownstone office)
Two antihistamines, every single day
Not nearly enough sleeping in
21 trips to the laundromat
4 dead handbags
One major haircut, a bob to my chin
9 complete levels of Angry Birds
Ten cornmeal lime cookies from Flour Bakery
Countless crazy-hot, humid days, which seemed to even shock lifelong East Coasters
Many, many dinners made, which has rid Gradon of the fierce case of the skinnies he had when I got here
Visited all but one state in the New England area (VERMONT, I’LL GET YOU YET)
Two trips to NYC (wow!)
One strange accosting outside a grocery store
Tons of excellent proposals put out by my excellent coworkers for excellent tasks
Enough shots of espresso to kill a camel
One wicked cold, which left me hacking for weeks
Two friend weddings (and one more on the near horizon)
And a partridge in a pear tree!
There’s so much more I could say about what it’s like to be frustrated by lack of progress in some areas, and dazzled by the level of progress in others.
What it’s like to feel lonely in the middle of a crowd of people because no one really knows you yet.
What it’s like to hear the Boston Pops playing “Sweet Caroline” in the rain in the Common, and you in your Sox hat, about ready to die of happiness.
What it’s like to ride in a car past the World Trade Center site, which I have done in silence twice now, except I have no words for that, and I don’t think I ever will.
What it’s like to have a barista know you by name exactly 4 months and 3.5 weeks after you’ve moved to a new city.
What it’s like to have to have to negotiate decisions, rather than acting as my own personal dictator.
What it’s like to be insecure one moment, and then utterly affirmed the next by a hand reaching out to grab yours.
What it’s like to feel incredible freedom at the same time as you feel intense responsibility.
What it’s like to have your leap of faith rewarded with a depth of possibility.
What it’s like to be Meg… now.
But I’ll try for that post another time.
Happy Arriversary, me.
