the calendar day has come!

the last 24 hours have been a complete whirlwind. yesterday during lunch we were told that our closing is going to go through on monday and that it's entirely feasible for us to move this weekend! and so we decided we'll move this weekend! i've been glued to my phone and the internet trying to get utilities turned on and moving trucks reserved.... hair appointments made.

i did get a brief respite from moving stress last night. my coworkers planned a pot luck going away party for me. it was very kentucky all around. barbeque pork and chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, oriental slaw, baked beans, deviled eggs, chocolate pecan pie, and orange creamsicle cake. while i have really struggled with my job here (i was indeed "the man") i came to really really love my coworkers. all of them grew up here. only one had ever lived outside of paducah when she went off to college. she was the only one close to my age. for the most part they are women in their forties and fifties, primarily married and with kids. or grandkids. seemingly each an opposite of me in some way or another.

living in portland was like living in a dream world. so liberal, so green, so young. except when you live there it doesn't feel like a dream. it's just the way things are. and it feels so right. and not right like good. right like right, like correct. like civilized. it feels like the rest of the country should want to feel the same way. living in portland during the last presidential election felt like the rift that was a polarized nation was ripping through my heart. it was hard to not take the results personally. i think everyone was being tongue in cheek, but also genuinely hopeful in oregon, washington, and california proposing that the blue states secede from the red. i mean, we'd all still be able to visit new york. and noone felt welcome in middle america and so noone cared to lose it.

and now here i am years later sitting at a table with republicans, bush supporters, evangelicals (and at least two democrats) laughing my ass off. feeling cared for. knowing i'm on a prayer list somewhere. and having the truly insane privledge of learning first hand that all this polarization is not really the human or the american experience. as passionate as i am about ideas, i'm learning that there's a humanity outside of ideas that truly unifies us. and that it's not all that hard to see once it's in front of you. and i'm getting downright hopeful that our government and place in the world will soon reflect that.