Saturday, October 28, 2017

i've got this sentimental heart that beats

I am sitting at the SFO Westin after a gloriously uneventful flight - I'm glad that everything was on time and easy, since it would have been stressful to be delayed before leaving for Singapore tomorrow morning. Getting ready to leave, however, was not relaxing - I was cutting it down to the wire, and my place will be a mess when I get back, which is my least favorite thing to deal with. However, since much of it still isn't unpacked, that wasn't really something I could solve today. And I took out my trash, cleaned out my fridge, ran the dishwasher, and recycled almost all the boxes that I'd unpacked so far, so things could be a lot worse.

Anyway, I scrambled and got out of the house by 2:15, which was ten minutes later than I'd wanted to, but I drove to Golden and got there three minutes before my official appointment with the Colorado DMV. I signed in for my appointment and they called my number before I even sat down, which seemed v. efficient compared to all the people who were waiting to be called.

So, after answering some questions, I suppose I'm officially a Colorado resident. They punched my California license, so there's no going back (ha - I'm sitting in California while I'm typing that, so maybe I'm wrong). They gave me a nice paper copy of my license, and I'll get the real one in the next few weeks - but I won't be in Colorado for two weeks, so it's a little anticlimactic. But it felt good to check that off my list - and somehow, it was a moment of clarity and realness in the midst of several weeks of feeling like I'm play-acting at being a professional/executive and a functioning member of corporate society. I'm happy to be back at work, but it's all been so fast and such a 180 from the last two years that I don't feel like I've actually given myself the mental space to contemplate and absorb the differences...

...but I have sixteen hours on a plane to Singapore tomorrow to consider this. After the DMV, I drove into Denver and saw Katie for a glorious hour and a half. I was beyond starving when I got to Avanti since I'd skipped breakfast and lunch to pack (two kind bars are not a meal, it turns out), so I got some gluten-free gnocchi with bolognese sauce that was delightful. Katie eventually showed up (we have reverted to type now that we're in the same place), and we caught up for awhile, and then I drove my car to her place so that I could leave it there while I'm gone. We chatted for a bit longer, and I showed pictures of saris to her kids (they decided that Adit = Aladdin, since I showed them pictures from his wedding, but I think Adit = Abu), and then I said my bittersweet farewells and took a lyft to the airport.

And now, alas, I need to sleep - I don't want to sleep too much since my jetlag might go better if I slept the first half of tomorrow's flight and forced myself to stay up for the second half, but there's no way that will happen. Wish me luck - goodnight!

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