Things are, pardon the pun, moving right along. My accounts have all been changed to my soon to be new Dallas address, I have no fewer than five pairs of shoes waiting for me in my new residence, and I am almost finished with the Texas Bar Application, a process I've been dreading for some time. If you're not a lawyer, you might not appreciate that you can't just go roaming about the country and be able to work in your chosen profession. Oh, no. You have to get registered in whichever state you intend to work, which can either be fairly easy or a gigantic pain in the ass approaching the gravity of the "grape-like hemorrhoids" I once heard described in a very special Oprah devoted to taking a healthy shit (Oprah admitted to peering into the bowl following a dump -- it was classic). Texas is in the hemhorroid category, which has also made it somewhat more difficult to find a job, as few firms seem willing to take on a new hire who isn't already a member of the illustrious institution that is the Texas Bar. Still I persist in my hunt for employment, and am currently waiting to hear from two firms that are quite different but potentially equally enjoyable. I am finishing out things at my current job -- attempting to hand off as much of my current caseload as possible before leaving, while continuing to travel frequently to Dallas to handle as much household reorganization as possible before I bring a truckload of new crap into the mix. Leaving a few items each time I visit hasn't made the dent I intended it to in my store of possessions, so I might have to abuse my baggage limit the next time I fly down (for St. Patrick's Day -- there's a parade!).
Yesterday S called as I was heading from the airport to the office in a cab and said he was in town from Seattle, was in my neighborhood, and would like to have lunch if I was free. I haven't talked to S since he called to wish me a happy birthday in August, pre-brunch, pre-Thanksgiving, pre-Dallas, pre-engagement. I figured that my friend, B, must have told him I was engaged (or maybe even more likely, B told B's mother, who told S's mother, who told S), but I still felt somewhat guilty for not telling him myself, so I agreed to lunch. We met at one of my favorite spots near my office and were soon chatting about people we knew, his goal of moving to New York very soon (he was in town interviewing for a job), and of course, my engagement. He waited until the end of the meal to ask, and I ran him through the entire story, from brunch to proposal, to moving plans. Telling him I was in love with someone else was easier than I thought it would be, but still more difficult than it should be after all this time. We chatted on about me leaving New York and he commented that life moves in four-year cycles and that we're at the end of one (it's been over four years since he moved to Seattle and I to New York, but each of us has been feeling restless for several months and needing a change) and that it's time to take a new direction. He and I broke up at the end of the last four-year cycle, right around this time in February 2002; I was devastated and lost all sense of personal direction for a bit. The end of this four-year cycle is so fittingly the opposite, as I am looking forward to every second of the next four years, knowing that whichever direction I take, Dallas will be there with me.
