For my roommates

Mara's Top 10 Non-Gourmet Foods to Crave at 1 a.m. Anytime

1. Carnation Instant Breakfast
2. Everything bagels with butter
3. Root beer Floats
4. Cinnabon break-n-bakes
5. Chocolate malts
6. Siam Square red curry
7. Gabby Wraps
8. Brownies
9. Chocolate Chip cookies
10. Yats

Excitement.

I want to be good at moving because I envision my life hop-scotching through area codes. I want to be flexible because beyond scheduled routine is a multitude of completely accidental, thrilling adventures.

I want to be able to admit my fears because they are vast, but no more real or dominant than supreme happiness.

The reality of it is, I'm not leaving on a jetplane only to return wide-eyed in six months, fully ready to fall back in love with Indianapolis and its people (my people). I am putting all my belongings in boxes, sorting what I want from what should be donated or sold, and moving. Indefinitely.

scaryshit DOT com

But I can't bring myself to be sad, or nervous or even my go-to emotion, WORRIED. This is splendid. And as soon as we get a P.O. Box, I want some snail mail!

Jungle Gym Jethro

"Babe, do you have any family videos?

"Yeah, one."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know." PAUSE. "But we should look for it because Suzanna has huge 80s glasses and a humongous perm, like mondo, and so does my mom. I have white hair and hated cameras so I'm not in it very much. You can just hear me running around asking my mom for a ladder to get on the roof because my paper airplane got stuck up there."

I AM DYING LAUGHING.

"Yeah, I guess it was kind of a prelude to my whole life."

Scratch the dotted line

One of the major problems I had with the place we were planning to rent was that the house was going to be up for sale for the duration of our lease. AKA: we couldn't make any nail holes, paint or make any of the changes I felt necessary to make the place feel like "home."

So it may come of a bit of a surprise that we have decided to move into a fully furnished home in the middle of the mountains, a home where I have left 90% of the decorating up to the owner AND in which there is no room for my bed. That's right. My bed, my refuge is staying in Indianapolis.

But really, I think you could give up your fluffy haven given the opportunity to live here:

What you can't see is the screened in gazebo, a kitchen with beautiful hardwood floors and cabinets,  a huge porch and about a million more windows. Did I mention our living room view is facing the mountains? And that my new sleeping place is a KING cherry wood sleigh bed? And that the owner built an outdoor swing to watch the sun rise?

Visitors welcome!

Oh no.

I'm behind but I have so much to tell.