2005: First serious boyfriend. He's a good, strong Auburn fan. And twice my age. (I really did not mean for that to happen. It just did.)
2006: Graduate college, begin graduate school (i.e. came to understand how people become alcoholics)
2007: I have a pretty bad meeting with my concentration advisor in grad school ("Frequenting bars is not advised," she told me. That should have been enough for me to get out of there then.) The Boyfriend and I break up a few hours after the deadline for me to drop my classes. I am devastated and rush to make phone calls early the next morning. I could move back to Auburn and totally get away. Unfortunately, I needed my advisor to help me do all that, and, of course, she did not return my calls and emails. So, I did what I knew to do: stick it out and hit the bar whenever possible. Got a nasty stomach bug. Daily nausea. Switch majors in grad school from Education to Public Admin. Get back together with the Boyfriend. Start co-running a dart tournament. Get a couple of stinkin' cute kittens.
2008: Still nauseated. Get another cat. Start working as an elderly sitter. Love the job. Begin the process of buying first home. Become a bartender. Break up with boyfriend. Buy townhouse. Black Velveteen is totaled in a McDonald's drive through line. Get back together with boyfriend. Buy Ava. Bar job sucks! Declare I will move to Auburn in six months if "things" do not improve. Sitting job may end. Hard time settling into house. Bad roommate. Kittens abandoned outside my house and I rescue them. Boyfriend insists on keeping them. Bar job really sucks. Decide to move back to Auburn. Tell Boyfriend, and he starts treating me very nicely again. Move put on hold. Fired from sitting job. Re-hired to sitting job. Sitting charge on hospice. Did I mention the bar job sucks? Sitting charge dies. Phenergan cut off. Devastating bar experience, quit bar job.
2009: New doctor, new phenergan prescription. Stomach bug, take 2. Still can't get settled in townhouse. Want to start a business with Mom. Boyfriend moves in. Start Real Estate School. Stepson comes to visit. Easter hosted at my house. Grandfather goes to hospital. Two and a half weeks later, Grandfather dies. Again, I am devastated. Want to buy a game day condo in Auburn. Decide to break up with Boyfriend. Gallbladder removed. Blood pressure high. Start watching "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Decide to move to Auburn. The Guy Who Still Lives With Me takes in a pregnant cat. Five kittens born. Here I am, still nauseated.
While this is the most condensed version I could come up with, I want it to be known that there is a lot to be thankful for and I did manage to let out a couple of smiles, maybe even laughs, during the past few years. It's been a wild ride, not all bad, but there were some bad things that really seem to characterize these years.
I do not intend to run away from my problems, but I do know I need to remove myself from the "situation" for a while. Fight or flight was really kicking in a few weeks ago, and now that this move is underway, I'm beginning to feel much better.
I am looking forward to living in a beautiful town with nice people and fresh air. I am looking forward to downsizing my possessions that I have accumulated over the years. I am looking forward to being single again. I am looking forward to not have a million cats at my feet as I make my breakfast every morning.
And it would be really nice, but it is not a priority, seeing as how I need to heal for a while, to find a good, strong, Southern, Auburn fan down here to fall in love with, get married to, and adopt a kid or two or however many God sees fit.
I'm ready to get on with my life.
