The Littlest Penguin

It’s not dead, it’s pining for the fjords!

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized

Well, with several months of near-inactivity on this blog, you’d think I would throw my hands up in frustration and just let the thing die. But not this penguin! I kept radio silence for a while partly because it’s tough to know who’s reading out there and I had some things going on that I didn’t want certain people to find out about until I could tell them in person. (My parents, family and friends, my boss. . . ) Also because blogging while stressed and busy didn’t seem like fun to me. Sorry.

However, that means that a ton of stuff has happened and you don’t want a novel of a blog entry, so let’s begin.

Back in November William and I started dating again. (We dated when I was a college freshman. Insert mooshy “we’ve been friends ever since” story here.) He spent Christmas with me in Tennessee, which was really wonderful even though I felt bad leaving him alone all day while I went to work. We started to talk about me finding a job in Virginia, near him, and plans. And then in February I realized I was pregnant, so we sped up the moving and planning parts of our conversations. Changing that much that fast is scarry as hell, and I have to admit I had a few anxiety attacks in the process. Not fun. (Telling your parents something like this, even at age 29, also not fun.) But I had a lot of support from William, from his mom, and from my friends. Mom and dad, too, once they got over the shock and the weirdness.

So my last day at the archives was May 15 and two weeks later my friends, who deserve more thanks than the pizza I got for them, helped me pack up the UHaul. William flew in to help me pack and drive the truck, and get me through a pretty tearful good-bye to everyone over dinner at MidCity. Next morning, Robb and Edie came over to help me throw the last few things into the truck, clean the apartment and load up the kitties (one with me, one with William). The drive up to VA wasn’t too bad, for the humans at least. Paddington and Anselm hardly came out of their carriers the whole time, and Anselm cried for maybe 3 hours striaght. Poor William.

We didn’t have nearly as much help unpacking, but William did a lot and my brother-in-law Paul helped a bunch. I’m still unpacking some boxes, but most everything is unpacked and integrated into the apartment. It’s a nice 2 bedroom place near the Occoquan River – our back windows have a view of trees instead of more apartments or highway. Anselm and Paddington have settled in and have made friends with Fezzick and Sapphire and the four of them keep me company during the day.

On the 29th our families came in and William and I did an itty-bitty exchange of vows at a park on the river. It poured down rain right up until we started, but it stopped in time for some pictures to be taken. My brother-in-law Jared did the vows and I wrote the short service. The dress I wore wasn’t the one I was hoping to, but it was still pretty and William looked very handsome in his suit. The we all went to Madigan’s next to the park and had a really nice dinner together. Mom and dad gave us two nights in a bed and breakfast in Manassas. The place was beautiful and the hosts were fantastic. And it got us away from the stacks of boxes at home. We only invited our parents and siblings to the vows, pretty much. Next year we’re planning to have a big reception-style party for everyone else. William sort of wants to run it con-style. We’ll see.

So here we are. I’m still learning the roads around here, and we’re planning a busy July of going to see our families in VA, PA, and FL. But first, I need to finish getting my name changed and there’s a Southeast Meetup that needs to be attended!

That’s not all the news that’s fit to be told today, but I’ll cut this short and blog about Kevin’s wedding and other fun later.

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