How's The Move Going?

It's All Right 

But I Miss My Chocolate Cake

Day 94

August 4th, 2013

Team Zybko

How is the move going?

All right, I guess.

Have you met new friends?

Not really but I did meet a nice lady at the park the other day. We chatted easily for about an hour and then our friendship was over as quickly as it started.

Do you know your way around?

Getting there, I am weaning myself off the GPS. I have in fact located the necessities. Starbucks, Chic-fi-la, a church, a few new parks (one lake side), Delaney’s school, a nice public Library, soccer fields, The Y with the splash pad and Target.

How is it to finally be living in the same city as Baby Daddy?

Well, he is currently working nights. Boo. The daily transition goes something like this. Baby Daddy knocks on the door, I get out of the nice warm bed, I remove the chair from under the doorknob to let him in, he hands me a fresh cup of strong coffee, we kiss, I give him a 8 minute update, he slides right into the fresh warm bed, he sleeps off the 12 hour shift, we meet him later for dinner. Very efficient and streamline, not unlike a shift change in a submarine, minus the open mouth smooching part. Don't ask don't tell.

What’s your new address?

Don’t have one yet. Living the dream life out of a suitcase from one Hotwire hotel deal to the next. Hasn’t been too bad, although this current place I wouldn’t recommend. As I type, the smell of smoke and burning incense forcefully creeps under the crack in the door, up my nose and straight to my brain. Keeping in mind it is 7:23am. The smell is strangely familiar of a certain dorm on the VCU campus. To my knowledge no one I knew inhaled. I am having a little trouble concentrating. If I don’t finish this post you can probably find me at the local 7-11 with a bad case of the soccer mom munchies. Check the nacho cheese machine, the chocolate donut isle and then the Slurpee section. 

In that exact order. 

  

How about a new gym?

The local YMCA is about ten minutes from our projected area of residency and it is totally awesome. Huge outdoor pool and splash pad area, racket ball courts, entertaining kid center and a good amount of classes offered. It already has proven to be a useful form of filling our days and quick sanity break from current real life. To my McLeod family, this is NO McLeod but I am trying to smile positively through this one. Side note, the MACK has a legit Ms. Pac Man arcade game, no quarters needed. Parents are also allowed to play, I have already beat my high score from 1984, no big deal.

How about the soccer fields, are they nice?

Yes to the fields but the jury is still out on the big city soccer moms. The complex is nice, complete with multiple bathrooms, concession stand, playground and speed bumps the kids like to unbuckle so their heads hit the ceiling. To the crazy lady in the black Suburban, you are welcome for not running into you as you backed up 2 inches from my front bumper while yelling out your rolled down window going postal at the traffic.

Is Delaney ready for real school?

She is totally ready to be in real school again. First day outfit has been picked out, school supplies tucked neatly away in her new book bag and after many a sessions she has mastered her locker lock. Swirl it, swirl it, swirl it right then first number 17, turn left stopping on 31 after passing previous number and then turn right landing on the last number to 1. Whew it opened.

 How is the traffic in the big city?

Busy for sure. Not used to being cut off or honked at. Also, sorry to the nice man in the Honda Accord and the lady in the Benz I didn’t realize that my lane was ending that quickly.

New Church yet?

Checking one out today.

What do the kids think?

They are getting used to all the “news” and unknown of moving as well. Kids are generally more resilient than grouchy old grown ups set in their ways. I can learn a lot from them in this season. 

You think you will eventually like Charlotte or what?

I can't answer that question with one sentence or with out using a goofy dessert metaphor. So you order chocolate cake cause it’s your go-to type of after dinner treat.  It never lets you down, never a bad choice. You are familiar with the texture of the icing, the way it gets stuck to your back teeth and you even like the cakey cake part. Tastes good the day after or eaten from a frozen stash in the back freezer. Chocolate cake is what you know as home. It’s comfort, you know what to except and satisfies your sweet tooth every time. In this season of moving you don’t get your chocolate cake, nope, instead you are served apple pie. What? Where is my chocolate cake? I didn’t ask to switch anything up. The problem is, there is no real reason to complain, cause you do actually like apple pie, especially when heated up with an extra large scoop of Bryers Natural Vanilla dumped on top. To complain about it would make you sound like a big fat snobby baby. Lots of people don’t get served either one. No cake or pie. So be quiet. You force yourself to keep eating the apple pie even though it isn’t your first choice. It’s not really doing much for you but it’s the pie or die. If you don’t appreciate the pie you might slip into a bad place called….feel sorry for yourself. You must create a new craving. Eventually you learn to really enjoy the homemade flakey crust and cinnamon spices mixed between the apples. Over time the apple pie will become your new chocolate before you know it.    

 For now though, I am doing all right. Thanks for asking.