The Seven-Year Itch

Yes, it's really been seven years since I started this blog. Back then, I had a different job and a different boyfriend. I lived in a different house in a different state, and I only had one cat. Seven years later, I've changed jobs and residences twice (but only one new employer and one new state). I've acquired three more cats and I've been through, um, a few relationships and a lot of dating. I've made some great friends. And I'm still driving the same trusty ol' Toyota Corolla, although I traded in the Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker for a Philadelphia Phillies one after they finally won the World Series.

In some ways, the past two years have been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me. In other ways, they've been the most stable years of my life, thanks to those great friends, my current job and residence, and the trusty old Corolla.

About ten months ago, I made a series of small decisions that I knew were meant to add up to one big choice. And that choice has led to a commitment that will require a lifetime of decisions -- some big and some small -- that are all steps along the road that you take to being part of something bigger than yourself.

I didn't exactly make a New Year's resolution to blog more, seeing as that's never really worked in any of the past six years. Right now, I'm actually working on some six-week resolutions. I wouldn't say that I've had stellar success so far, but I'm only two days in and I don't want to peak too early.

My boyfriend will be spending the next six weeks on a Navy base in Indiana. I'll be spending the same six weeks in a house that feels more empty without him than it did on the day that I first walked through it. To combat my loneliness, inevitable mourning over the impending end of football season, and annual case of the winter blahs, I've made myself a promise that I'm going to pack a year's worth of resolution-ing into the next six weeks. Let the games begin.

A year ago, I was convinced that the only thing missing in my life was the person with whom I wanted to share it. A year later, I'm realizing that the life I want to share needs some polishing around the edges. Finding the right person makes you want to be a better person, even though that right person loves you for who you are at this minute. And at every minute, even when you're having a bad hair day or wearing baggy sweatpants or being unnecessarily hysterical over a half-dead bug on the floor. 

I promised that this would never be a whiny blog, so I won't spend the next six weeks sniffling over how much I miss my boyfriend. And while I'm also not going to let it turn into an ooey-gooey (as my friend would say) blog about how wonderful it is to be in love, you might have to endure the occasional sappy story.

For right now, I'm going to start taking on the world one resolution at a time.