It's been a while...

but here I am again.
Lots to say, but somehow...not feeling the need to say any of it.
That has probably been on of THE strangest parts of this whole transition for me:
losing the drive to write, write, write!
It's like everything just feels good and right and normal.
And to recreate the bond I once had with this medium, this social network would be impossible.
Because I'm not the same person anymore.
I don't feel like I even know the person I was then, the person who was in a constant state of surviving.
I wasn't really there.
I was here, all the time.
I am so deeply, so truly HOME that there isn't even a need to express myself most of the time--
I simply AM.
I didn't just want to come home because Utah was feckin' WEIRD.
I didn't just miss the ocean and seafood.
I missed my family and the familiar faces that fill this little pocket of the coast, the familiar names and places.

I got a job today.
The one I wanted.
It's seasonal...at a small ski hill about 15 minutes from here.
I am truly ecstatic.
I will get to ski free and my kids can have free rentals and discounted lessons and lift passes.
My heart is leaping forward in anticipation of the first day...
probably the day after Xmas.
Oh, and not only do I get all those cool benefits, but I don't even have to work outside on the FREEEEEZING-COLD lifts to do it! I will be a cashier in the rental shop, and will learn to fit boot, etc.
I have been wanting that exact kind of job, and I was planning to do a lot of skiing anyway, so what a friggin win-win, eh???
I'm so stoked.
In the meantime, I will plod along on my freelance stuff and maaaaybe even begin a novel, so that by the time the season ends, in March, I will have other sources of income ready to go.
(no, I don't consider the novel thing a plausible source of income, don't worry!)

Anyway.
I have so many stories...
I just spent a week in Arizona, as a bridesmaid for a dear friend.
I also wrote the ceremony and married them!
It was really friggin cool.
It was also a hell of a lot of fun.
We partied the whole time, just hanging out with old friends and new friends and really feeling like family.
There were guests in attendence from all across the globe (though they now live in America, they have all come here only in the last few years): Armenia, Russia, Peru and Zimbabwe!
Quite a few exotic regions represented, eh?
Wowza.
I felt right at home, though.
We taught a Russian and an Armenian how to bowl and box on the Wii and they were funny.
We stayed with a local artist, whose painting hangs in my living room.
She is such a gracious host and such a good friend.
When she left for the Farmer's Market one morning we made good use of the cabana out by the pool...and got busted, just after the fact.
She took us hiking out in the REAL desert--cacti everywhere, and sand, sand, sand.
It was beautiful, though nothing compares (in my eyes) to my ocean swept Maine!
There were some spectacular sunsets--one night the moon came out, fat and low while the sun was still streaking the sky with pinks and purples--it was a breathtaking sight.
The wedding itself was so tasteful and beautiful and went off without a hitch--except that they GOT hitched...heh...

Ok, my dear one is waiting for me in bed.
Oh, and today he said he would marry me ANYTIME I choose.
Bestill my heart!!
We may have to find another date as cool as 10-10-10.