Drank

Whenever people ask me how I'm doing these day, my initial response is "busy - very, very busy." Not only am I working 40 hours a week at the K-roger, but I've picked up several cleaning/yardwork/office job, I'm looking for a house, and I'm getting ready to move my fiance to Ohio. Oh, and I'm planning a wedding.

Very, very busy.

It's a different kind of busy than ending a semester of school. At school you run around stressed and caffeinated as you panic about how you'll get papers and projects done on time. On top of that you're saying goodbye to friends - some of whom you'll never see again - and professors - some of whom you never want to see again - and the place that's been your everything for the last year. It all means "end." And "end" is sometimes a terrifying prospect.

This "busy" is much more regular - one thing plodding toward one date instead of six projects due on a single day. In eighteen days Joe will be here. Hopefully soon after that we'll find a house. In eleven months and eight days, we'll be married. And until then it's all about chipping away at the giant in careful, methodical chips. When I start to get frustrated my mom asks, "What's the best way to eat an elephant?"

The answer she expects is "one bite at a time."

I was explaining yesterday to a woman at work about why I look like I'm about to fall over after a week of working 40+ hours and gearing up to start another week - which looks very much the same - next week. And while most people shake their heads and say, "How are you not drinking right now?", she smiled and said, "Very busy. But all very happy things."

Yes. All very happy things.

For the first time in my life I am not dreading something. I have many milestones coming up, but for the first time since I was about five years old I am not looking at any of them with fear and loathing. I am beyond excited. In a little over a month my best friend will be here, and I won't have to say goodbye to him and wonder when I'll see him next - we won't have to wait for months on end between visits. Soon after that we'll have a house that will be ours (his first, then mine after we get married). In a little over a year I get to say "I do" to the man of my dreams and the love of my life. And sometimes I do get frustrated. Most of the time I am tired. And my "to-do" list grows faster than I can check things off. But I am happy. I am so unbelievably content. And I am so excited. :)