Montag, 9. August 2010

coming soon to a different city

Things that I am looking forward to in California:
-People not mishearing/misremembering my name as "Jenny"
-lemon trees
-people not speaking to me in Dutch when I explain "my surname is dutch"
-Stitch n' Bitches aplenty
-More yoga studios than I can shake a stick at.
-not being the only "beginner" in my marriage at many things.
-Sunday food shopping.
Things that I am not looking forward to:
-feeling foreign in the US
-those times when I forget that my experience (with this move) is very different from my husbands.
-learning to be patient (possibly made easier by the yoga mentioned above)
-the most difficult thing: missing my cat
While having a big think and a long walk and talk, Ivo and I realized that the experience of moving our poor peculiar cat to the States for one year may well traumatize her beyond healing. (We may have been selfish when we thought that she should come with us because we're so important to her.) We still do not have an apartment and may need to take some friends up on their generous offer to stay a week while apartment hunting. The 12 hour flight + moving to friends house + moving to our apartment + not being allowed out-of-doors + 12 hour flight back (possibly with a small child) + needing to trust a neighbor straight away to care for our cat while we go to an adoption seminar + needing trusted neighbor to care for cat while we are away for work/family/adoption what-not = a very stressed kitty.
I will miss seeing her curled up in our sink asleep. I will miss her enjoying it when I turn on the tap when she is curled up in the sink. I will miss her stealing of small stuffed toys and kneading my knees and laying on my belly to aid my Qi and her messing with my knitting and her rubbing against my just showered ankles.
I hope that we are doing the right thing and hate not being sure, but I know that I trust that she will have a satisfying home life at Tobi and Pi's