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Saturday, July 30, 2011

What Happened

Here's what happen in the smallest nutshell I can offer. It might turn out to be a coconut.
With the generous help of some contacts from our church, we were able to get all of our belongings packed up and in a storage unit by July 1, despite not owning a car. When people started showing up to help, I had our suitcases 90% packed, but before I could get them zipped up, the patterns that I'd intended to go with my selected yarns/projects were swooped up into a truck and long gone. At least I still had my needles and my ukulele!
Getting into the cab to take us to the bus station, I managed to drop a suitcase 2 floors onto one of our beta fish tanks- which I couldn't see at the bottom- in order to prevent dropping my daughter or spilling my jewelry box. We tossed him in with the other beta, filled his tank back up in the neighbors' sink, and got him back in it- all with lightning speed. According to our fish-sitters, he survived a couple more days.
We took the bus to New York where we saw friends we hadn't seen in over a year, two new babies, and had a ton of fun together. Jason's work informed him that all needed to work together remotely to meet a deadline dropped on them Friday and due 7:30AM Tuesday. Jason and I had a fight, which stalled our decision making skills, I had a freak out about being bad guests and having no where to go ( that place I mentioned on here had gone to another prospective tenant), and my little girl- who is terrified by anything she can't predict- got bitten by our friends' terrified pet ferret. I think we're both scared for life. Anyway, since Jason had to work, we had to leave before any festivities could start Monday afternoon. Everyone fell asleep on the bus except me, who spotted the occasional fireworks display from the freeway.
After carrying around our luggage and Priceline-ing a new hotel for 3 days and two nights, we assessed that there was no way our funds would last unless we found a new apartment in a day or two. We didn't have any contacts who could take all of us in, so rather than risk it we booked a flight across the country to my mother's.
We were broke and exhausted, but we'd have a roof over our heads. It was a great chance to see family and friends we hadn't see in a long time, and my parents are unfailingly generous. That being said, staying at their house, (which would take a bunch of coconuts to explain, but it is impossible for me to relax there) with no money, no car, while my husband was on the other side of the country sleeping at the YMCA one week and some friends' couch the next, being told over and over that our credit sucks too bad to rent to, and there's nothing I can do but wait, brood, and be bored...

Just Shoot The Hat

     Oh! how ridiculous- it occurred to me the other day 'I have a blog called the Perpetual Vagabond. I've been traveling almost nonstop for weeks, and not even because I wanted or planned to- but I haven't written or taken a picture the whole time!'  I would probably less forgiving of myself  if circumstances had been more pleasant.
     When Jason came home from work on June 28th I was in a scramble to throw on a decent top and some make-up. We had two days to be ready and out of the apartment, we didn't have a new place lined up, and I didn't know when we'd get another chance to take photos of the finished Berklee hat. We'd been packing all day, so the kids and I hadn't even really gotten dressed- shorts and flip-flops were flying, I was shouting "We're losing light!" and we barreled down the stares in a comic cloud of dust and limbs.
     The conversation that followed went something like this:
"OK, just get some good shots of the hat."
"Right. Go over there. Now look up. K put your hand over there."
"Shoot the hat. You don't need to see below my shoulders."
"I know, I know- it's cool. Go over there I want to get the light post."
"Jason, shoot the hat!"
"It's cool! I want it to tell a story,"
"What are you talking about? I just need a couple good shots of the hat!"
"Like a clothing catalog."
"That's not going to work! Just shoot the hat!"
"It looks great- just trust me."
     We had some fun taking the photos, I felt like a total doofus, but we enjoyed the beautiful street we were on and playing around with the kids.
     Later that night, when Jason uploaded the shots to his computer he said to me "I think we're going to have to do this again. I should've just shot the hat." I had a good laugh over that.