Toyotathon

Thanks to WiFi at the Toyota dealership, I'm going to be able to update the blog for the first time in what seems like forever.  For a change, life took over and got in the way of my sitting at the computer long enough to update this blog - a nice thing to have happen, to be so busy, especially with my having had to leave Alabama and come back to Illinois.  But to get the Big Decision news out of the way at the start, I've come away from my 2½ weeks in Alabama absolutely certain that I will be moving there.  I don't know exactly when that will happen.  But it will.  I can start making longer-term plans.  It's where I want to be.  Which just goes to show how many unexpected, strange turns a life can take.

(My entire life, as I look back on it, has been a serious of unexpected, strange turns.  The other day Lynne and I were thinking about the many things about my life which, if you had told them to the 1984 version of myself, as she graduated from college, she never would have believed.  The latest being that the 2010 version of herself would be a widow planning a move to Alabama after having spent over a decade in Illinois.  Although, now that I remember it, the 1984 version of myself had already heard Sacred Harp singing and owned a copy of the 1971 revision of the book and was anxious to find a way to sing it herself - so maybe there could have been a way some of this would have made sense to her, how she could have ended up knowing and loving so many people in a state she had up to that time never been anywhere close to visiting, how she could have ended up married to a Sacred Harp singer in Illinois.  But all the twists and turns and events that got her here would have been unimaginable.)

Thanksgiving in Huntsville was lovely - a houseful of kind and friendly people, excellent food (thanks again, Karen, for going out of your way and making a separate dish of delicious vegetarian dressing for me!  And next time I'm sure the rolls will not be at all mistaken for Zwieback...), and love.  The next day Lynne and I actually had to brave the Black Friday hordes, because I had gotten her an Auburn hoodie in the wrong size and we had to exchange it at a store in a mall.  It wasn't as bad as I'd feared (we must have been between the early-morning rush and the late-sleeper-inners), and seeing large numbers of people walking around the mall in Auburn and Alabama regalia was fun... in preparation for the Iron Bowl, and the annual intense rivalry of the Auburn-Alabama game.  That event brought another houseful of people and more food, and the game itself provided a first half of subdued anxiety followed by the thrill of Auburn's comeback and victory in the second half.

By the end of Friday, a cold had caught up with me, and my voice was mostly gone, which carried over to the Alabama State Sacred Harp Singing Convention for the next two days in Birmingham, where I sang tenor in a lower register when I sang at all, my alto range nowhere to be found.  The Miracle of the Prozac continued, though, and I was able to accept Rod's generous invitation to sing with him for the deceased during the memorial lesson, and then lead 77t for Jerry at the very end of the convention, both without getting upset or crying or trembling.  (I think it must have stunned a lot of people who had last seen me at Lookout Mountain in August - not to mention the total difference in my appearance, as back in August I desperately needed a haircut and was wearing no makeup, and now I've come over all girlified, as Jerry might have put it.)  Saturday evening I went with friends and saw my first-ever 3-D movie, the Disney film Tangled, which was fun, but I was so tired that I'm afraid I might have slept through some of it - I know towards the end I was more focused on keeping my eyes open than on watching the screen.

Back to Illinois Sunday evening (with an overnight in Scottsburg, IN) and Monday, with the probably inevitable emotional crash when I got back to the house - not helped by a notice to Jerry from his dermatologist's office reminding him of an appointment in December, which I had to call to cancel and explain that he'd died.  I was afraid the Alabama version of me, whom I preferred so much to the sad, desolate Illinois version I'd been when I left for Huntsville earlier in November, had disappeared as quickly as she'd arrived, but the next morning when I got up for work, Alabama Girl somehow was back - not perfectly happy, of course, but not so desolate.  Possibly an ongoing tribute to the miracle that Prozac seems to be for me, but I hope it's not just the Prozac - I hope it's progress, too.  I hope it's hope.  I've restarted my new job, and so far I think it's going well.  I'm having to learn a lot quickly, as I'm going to be taking over a lot of tasks and projects for a woman who's about to have a baby and go on 6-8 weeks of maternity leave.  I've also already done some editing (among other things, saving some unwitting doctor from discussing one of the most important "tenants" of the Hippocratic Oath in an article that will be seen by the 5,000+ members of the society), and I can't help it - editing for me is a combination of compulsion, natural instinct and sheer fun, and I get very nerdily excited about getting to do it.

The commute hasn't gotten any more fun, and with today's first snowfall of the year, I imagine it's only going to get worse (in combination with the road construction all around the office building, which has already been making things annoying).  I leave home in the morning when it's still dark out, and it's dark again before I leave work in the evening.  If I don't make an effort to get out of the building at lunchtime, it's likely I won't see daylight all day long, since I'm in an inner office space without windows, and the uninspiring lunch room in the basement of the building is also windowless (I told one of the IT guys that I expect my skin to turn green from the fluorescent lighting any time now.  I've made sure to put a desk lamp on my desk to add some less harsh, lower light).  The choices for the way-too-long one-hour lunch break are to get in my car and drive somewhere, stores most likely, walk for no reason and to nowhere interesting in the immediate vicinity of the building (and, now, in bad weather), sit at my desk through lunch (which, when I've done it in former jobs, has inevitably led to working through lunch - not a good option), or sit in the lunch room cave in the basement.

But the job is interesting so far, and the people are nice, and having somewhere to go every day, no matter how annoying it is to get there, is all good.  Not to mention a paycheck!  And the medical insurance I'll have starting next year, which can't happen soon enough, given how appallingly useless the individual policy I have has turned out to be.

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Back at home now, earlier than I expected.  The car needs a new passenger door handle assembly, which they didn't have in stock.  The guy there told me they didn't want me to drive the car because the passenger door could open at any time - glad I didn't know that when I drove back from Birmingham, or back and forth to work four days this week on I-90.  The rear hatch lock just needed cleaning and lubricating, so that's good.  But he said the car also needs a new timing belt and spark plugs, and I don't know any better or have a good immediate way of finding out if this is true or not, so I'm taking his word for it, and will be the poorer by another thousand dollars by the time all this is taken care of, with any luck on Tuesday.  Although I have to say, I'm enjoying driving the 2011 RAV4 they've given me as a free loaner.  I know, amazing that a 2011 SUV is more fun to drive than a 1999 minivan, right?  (If this scenario went as they'd want it to, I'm sure I'd be going back right away to trade in the Sienna on a new RAV4.  Sorry, Toyota.  Not now.  Someday I'll drive something else... but not while I'm sorting out everything else in my life as well.)

Steve the contractor should be here some time this afternoon to fix (or try to fix) my kitchen faucet, which the other night started leaking water out the bottom when I turned it on.  I do know how lucky I am to have a contractor I can turn to and know that he's reliable and trustworthy - wonder if he'll want to move to Alabama whenever I do that myself!  (My father keeps asking if he does work in NYC.)

I believe that's all y'all mostly caught up. This week I heard back from the woman at the Botanical Garden in Huntsville, and I've made all the arrangements for the memorial brick for Jerry there - I was limited to two lines of fourteen letters/spaces each, and came up with IN OUR HEARTS for the first line, and J JERRY ENRIGHT for the second.  Pretty much says it all.  I don't know when it will be in place - they'll let me know when it is.

And finally... today is Game Day!  The SEC Championship Game coverage starts at 3 p.m. my time, and the Good Lord willing and the snow don't rise and cover my satellite dish, I'll be glued to the TV (I've already brushed snow off the dish once this morning).  It won't be as fun as watching the Iron Bowl was down in Huntsville (and with any luck not as nerve-racking as that game was, either), and sho nuff nowhere near as fun as being at the Auburn-Georgia game was, but I'm still excited about it.  War Eagle!  Gooooo Tigers!