It seems it all came at once, but there have been some major changes that our family has been handed. First of all... that job that I have been alluding to has finally become a reality. The really good news (besides the job) is that we can stay in Richmond for the time being. Unfortunately, we had to move from WOTB, but did manage to find a house not too far away in Byrd Park Terrace. For the next year, we'll be experimenting with the new job situation. I get to work from home, which is absolutely awesome, but will have to travel a bit to meet with clients. If the travel gets to be too much, we might have to move further north, but hopefully I'll be able to make it work from here.
After accepting the new job (and dealing with the fallout at work...ugghhh) we scrambled to get our apartment rented. We listed, showed and had someone approved in a three day span, and also found our new house and started moving. It looks like a bomb went off in our old place; since we really didn't get to pack much, it was more like throwing stuff in the truck and in my pickup.
We've got a bunch of crazy days ahead. I don't officially start my new position until July 1st, so until then I have a crazy June left but allot to look forward too. Most of all I am thrilled we wont have to leave all of our great friends here in the RVA.

Labels: Diary, Life, Richmond

This weekend was a mad crazy rush to get things done. We had the 10k to get to, a house to clean up, and friends to entertain and hang out with. With a big sigh of relief we accomplished all and had a lazy Sunday to help recover from all the running around.

The wife was this year’s 10k participant. I did it last year and had a pretty good showing, but my knee surgery kept me out of this year's race. Not only did she do it, but she kicked some serious butt. I am so proud of her. She’s a bit like me… ultra competitive and driven. I know she wasn't exactly where she wanted to be in her running regimen, but she did awesome. It inspired me to get off my butt and back in the gym, and I am officially dropping my name in the hat for next year's race.

After the wife was done running, we had a good time cheering people on, and even saw some of our friends finishing the race. It was fun cheering other people on, and giving them that extra little push towards the end.

After all that, we headed to Fuddruckers for a post race burger, then headed home to clean up the house. It was a mad dash to get everything ready, but once everything was done, we had a great time hanging out with our friends. Food, beer, fun... it ended up being a great day.

Labels: Family Love, Life, Richmond

It's been fifty-two days since I had my knee surgery and I'm still limping along on my crutches. Aside from the inconvenience of not being able to hold anything and being really slow, it has not been the end of the world for me. (Don't question the wife about this... you might get a totally different answer.)

I generally feel like I'm in the way of everybody. I was in Georgetown over the weekend, and after walking about five blocks to the stores we wanted to get to, I was pretty tired and specially slow. Most people were kind enough, but about half the people that had a chance to wait for two seconds for me to get out of the way or just let me through ended up making me shuffle out of their way. Oh, well. I guess I can attribute it to the holidays or whatever, but I hope that I have never made someone with a disability feel that way.

But on to bigger and better thoughts... I think I might be getting close to walking without the crutches soon. At least that's what I keep telling myself and the wife. I'm pretty sure I might have used up all of my "Baby, can you get me..." She has been insanely patient with me, so hopefully I'll be up on my feet soon and getting up to get whatever my sweet girl wants.

Labels: Life

There's a dull ache hanging over our house, very much like a headache that's about to set in. I can feel it, right in my head. I can feel it starting to sharpen, and I know it will be getting worse before it gets any better.

My mother has unexpectedly dropped into our lives again. It has been a long, long time since I had heard her voice. This was not my choice. I believed I had given her every opportunity to do the right thing. By doing that, I sacrificed myself and my wife. I gave up parts of ourselves that were whole and good, and that resulted in lots of pain and heartache. I was wrong to do that, and I was wrong to give so much up for someone who was abusive.

With one call, thoughts and emotions that I have not dealt with in such a long time pounded me. I felt like I was five years old again, running to my mom after I had been scolded, looking only for her acceptance. I do not want to feel like this. I do not want her to have the control over me she has had for much of my life. I want to protect my family.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I always knew this day was going to come. I just figured I would be the one trying to make reach out to her. My mode of dealing with things is denial. If I pretend things don't happen then they can't hurt me. This is so in my face that there is no way to ignore it.

We had a brief break in the process when we took the kids out to see Santa and got home and watched a stupid movie. It was a good break, we had a good time, but through it all, I could feel that dull ache working it's way through my head.

Labels: Life

Labels: Life