So much to be thankful for....

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and there is so much to be thankful for. My family, my friends, my good health, and people who make me smile and laugh and feel happy. I will be driving to NY state tomorrow morning to go to my grandmother's for the day. She is just amazing, and I want to be just like her when I am 90. I know I wrote a little bit about her when we all gathered for her 90th birthday party in October, but here is some more about her. She was born in 1917, and had 4 younger brothers, two of whom are still living. She was married young, and my mother was born soon after marriage near the end of the depression, and she was a young grandmother when I was born. This is the reason that she is known as Mudder to me and my sister and brother. My mother always called her "Mother", and as I was learning to talk, I referred to her as Mudder. This was preferable to almost any other name that she could have been called at not quite 40. No nanny or granny was she!

She knows how to keep things in line, and by that I mean both people and things. She is young for her age, and never stops or even slows down, travels to Mississippi once or twice a year, and she has had a second husband for almost 23 years after being married to my grandfather for over 40 years. Nick has been a great husband and support to her, and he has been a welcome addition to my family circle.

Last year at Thanksgiving we all gathered at her house, as she said that it might be the last year that she would feel like preparing a holiday meal. No surprise really, when she said that she would like to have us all at her home tomorrow. I haven't yet told my grandparents about the Peace Corps, because I was waiting until I had real news to share. So, now it feels a little bit bittersweet, thinking about tomorrow, and that I will tell her that I am leaving for two years, and knowing how much I will miss the people that I love while I am gone. I am still so excited about this new adventure, but tomorrow it will feel real in a new way.

So where the heck is Moldova???

So it is official!!! The Peace Corps has finally accepted me, and I'm off to Moldova. I have never considered myself as geographically challenged, but I did have to pull out the atlas, and read about Moldova. I have included the link for the Peace Corps, so you all can read up about my new home for the next few years. My departure date is February 24-26 for "staging" which happens stateside, and I will fly out on February 27th or so. Now the panic is starting to creep in about all that needs to get done, and how to do it all before I leave. I am more excited than anxious, but as with anything this big, there are so many competing emotions. And, of course, so much work to do to make sure that things go as smoothly here as they can in my absence. I can't even really process it here, it is almost too much.

The rest of my life is going along like there is no momentous change in the works. I was in Pennsylvania last week. I had a very scary, life-flashing-before-my-eyes experience on Rt. 78 in the middle of the night with 2 blown out tires on the passenger side of my car. I must have hit something because the rim of the front tire was broken and needed to be replaced. Thank goodness for cell phones and my wonderful brother-in-law, Bob, who made sure that I was well taken care of at the tire place. I don't like chaos and stress, and this was some of both. I called 911 when the tires blew, because I wasn't entirely off the highway, and those big rigs are out of control on a rainy night. It still spooks me to think about it. Anyway, all is fine now, although I confess that one of my first thoughts was, "Great, I finally hear from the Peace Corps, and now I'll be dead!!" Oh, the drama of it all.

In Pennsylvania, I spent time getting the car looked at, spending over $400 in getting that business taken care of, and hanging out with Linnea. She is stressing about my leaving. She has made such good progress at the house. She really has a lot to be proud of. I left on Tuesday morning and went to Long Island to do a Supervisor's Seminar on case management. This is an opportunity that came to me as a Board Member of the National Association of Case Management. I have to say that it was just a bit surreal to be introduced as a "national expert" in the field, and not have been able to have kept my job in case management at Sweetser. I have to think it says as much about Sweetser, though, as it does of me. No sour grapes, really, but there still is a disconnect for me. I know things happen for a reason, and I have to just live with that. Besides, I'm going to Moldova. How cool is that??? I am going to take a laptop, which the PC suggests, so I will be able to keep in touch with you all.

I need to talk to someone more techno savvy than myself (Bob Myers, maybe??) to help me figure out the blog/myspace connection, along with other tips that anyone might have on getting a laptop that will work with a 220 adapter. I'm not sure that I will be able to have a cell phone that works, but I will feel pretty connected if I can email everyone. See, I'm already stressing a bit about the minutiae of it all.....I need to let it go...

I'm still waiting to hear from Betsy about her baby, figuring out my days and nights of work between two jobs. On a really happy personal note, I did hear back from someone I thought I wouldn't hear from again, and that made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Finally some news!

Last week, on Halloween Wednesday I received an email from the Peace Corps, indicating that my medical review was complete. I didn't want to say anything to anyone, as I wasn't sure if "complete" meant that I was "clear" or just that they were done reviewing my record. So I didn't say anything. On Saturday, I got an official letter from PC saying that my record was medically clear! Yippee!! The news that I have been waiting for since March! The next step will be an invitation to service in a particular country and a departure plan. That will probably be coming in the next few weeks. I am really not sure how long it will take, but I don't think it will take as long as the medical clearance. At least, I hope it doesn't, as my patience has been tested so much through the past few months, and I am really anxious to hear what the plan is. I know from a previous email from PC that it most likely will be a Spring departure, or maybe a little later. Now that I know that I will be going, I am sort of hoping that it will be later, because it feels like there is so much to do between now and when I leave.

This past week, Conor Hartford tiled my bathroom. He did a phenomenal job! This weekend I painted my bathroom to go with the new tile. I still don't have the toilet hooked back up, but it should be in this afternoon. I've been running across the street, going to Wal-mart, or otherwise checking out many more public potties than at any time in the past. The tiles are black and white, and I painted the walls a nice gray color. I was happy until I saw the walls last night and thought the gray color really looked a little green in the overhead light at night. I wasn't displeased enough to think about re-painting it another color, but I was surprised at home differently it looked at night. I think when I get a new vanity, it will be done. Right now there is just a sink attached to the wall, and I think I need a vanity for the extra space. We'll see if I need it or just want it.

Linnea is doing well. She had a disappointment this past weekend when her boyfriend(??) chose not to drive down from Maine to see her. I have heard before that she is done with him, but she was able to rebound from this bad news, and I think she still had a pretty good weekend. She is working on the house, and getting ready for winter.

Other than the big news from PC, there is not much else to write about. I am working around the clock, now starting week 2 at Beans. Last night went well. I really like the picking work, and I am getting used to not sleeping. This week I am working from 10 pm to 4 am, home to sleep for about 2 hours, work at Sweetser, home to sleep for 4-5 hours and back to work at Beans. What a life. (Or lack of one...) At least there are lots of young men to watch while staying up all night. That makes the night go by quickly, along with dreams of fried clams!