Moving on

The packing has officially begun. And by begun I mean we've collected enough boxes, now we need to fill them. However, with the weather finally taking a turn for the better, I'd much rather be out enjoying our neighborhood. It'll only be our 'hood for another 22 days or so. There are a lot of things I don't want to forget about 265 Union - here's a few, in no particular order.

• The walk to Meghan and Dan's house being only 1.2 miles on the way there, and approximately 7 miles on the way back.
• Only making the walk to Meghan and Dan's house once.
• Missy, the spunky Shih Tzu who lives just up the street. She runs up to see us on our porch. Her mom, an elderly African American woman, follows behind. She talks to Missy like she's human. "Missy - how you gonna just run across the street - you trying to get me killed? Next time, you wait." Just recently, she told us that Missy told her "You must be crazy if you think I'm riding with you all the way to the grocery store in your cold car." I love Missy and her sass. And her mom is my favorite neighbor ever.
  
• Pepe, the HUGE skunk that lives under our neighbor's house. I don't like it when he squirts under our house, but a little skunk funk in the neighborhood is almost pleasant.
• The Samurai Warrior - picture Napoleon Dynamite's brother, then give him nunchucks, a sword, and some crazy ninja stunts. Yesterday, we saw him walking the street holding a cement block out in front of himself. He might look like a weenie, but I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of those nunchucks.
• Drinking white chocolate mochas outside the Wealthy Street Bakery on Saturday mornings in my pajamas.
• The built-ins. Oh, the built-ins.
• Mary, our neighbor next door. She's a grandma now and lives in the house she grew up in all by herself. When Keith was traveling, Mary and I looked out for each other. She says she's not a cook, but our street's always full when she's making tamales.
  
• The three little african american boys who play in our yard. Last summer, they were always running around in no shoes, no shirts, but plenty of things to beat each other with. Come fall, they added shoes. Now, in the spring, they have shirts and mini short - gotta love growth spurts. These boys are best friends - I still don't know where they live, but I think they've spent more time in my yard than I have.
• Getting paid an allowance from the landlords for watering the yard.
  
• Neighborhood restaurants. I'm gonna miss these the most.
  
• Being centrally located. Walks to the fireworks, carpools to the beach or movie theater - it usually began here.
  
• Hearing Keith's mom calling to our cats as she goes into work, 6 doors down.

This is definitely an anxious time - one filled with anticipation, a little mourning, and a whole lot of financial stress. We still haven't locked in our interest rate - it's been climbing since this process began. Please pray it gets back to where we budgeted!