We're Moving!!

Holy goodness!!! Boxes everywhere!!! 

I prayed that it'd happen, but I never thought it actually would. After graduating from Western Carolina in December, I never thought I'd get a job. It was a long two months of unemployment, and I got really lucky securing this one. In fact, I got the initial call from the employer because his wife is best friends with my former professor --- who I had listed as a reference on my application! It's a frighteningly small world, especially in Western North Carolina.

Yesterday, I took Chris along for house hunting, and I found a beautiful little apartment in the heart of a glade of tall trees. There's a laundromat, pool and fitness center on site. The management is quite friendly, and after I showed them pictures of what a chinchilla actually looks like, they melted over the adorable face of Nimbus! It's a beautiful apartment with a walk-through closet, small kitchen, two bathrooms, closet space, utility room, balcony and a curved staircase to a loft second floor (I've never had a second floor before!) So, I'm very excited.

Let's move out!

There are a few things I wish I could change, but the same applies here, too, of course. I wish the new place had more windows for both Sparta's and my benefit. I'm a huge lover of natural light. Right now, the weather is fantastic. All the doors are open; the windows are open!! It's beautiful! Also, the balcony overlooks the parking lot, but why am I complaining?! Seriously, I'm 22-years-old, and this is my first job --- my first place where my full-time job isn't being a student. There will be other homes, and if I really hate it, well then, the lease expires in a year. I can tolerate a year. As long as my pets are happy, so am I.

Sparta (back) and Sansa (front)

What I hate the most is leaving Sansa and Chris behind. Sansa cannot come. I've written on several occasions about how much she tortures Nimbus. It's her natural predatory instinct to go after Nimbus. I'm very lucky with Sparta that he couldn't care less about the fuzzy rabbit-squirrel jumping around the living  room. Sansa will always see him as dinner. But, I've come to love Sansa. She's an absolute pain and gets into everything, but she's just the sweetest little kitten. I hate saying goodbye to her when I just did the same thing to my cat Binx back in July. I was heartbroken. However, Sparta and Binx didn't get along. In this case, Sparta adores Sansa. He calls for her in the morning, waking the dead in order to play with his best mate. They give each other baths, they chase each other across the entire house, and they nap together in the sun. How can you communicate with your pet that they won't be able to see their best friend anymore? How do I tell Sparta that he won't see Sansa again after the 28th? It brings me to tears. I just keep asking myself "What have I done?" I don't know why I let her into the house in the first place when I knew this was how it would end. But, thankfully, Sansa has found a home. If we were just packing up the house and pulling away with her watching us from the driveway, I'd really be losing it right now. The very image of that sentence in my head makes me want to run to the bathroom and vomit. I don't understand how people can do that to animals or what the animals must be thinking. But, Sansa has found a good home, and she'll be very loved there.

Chris can't come either. He has to stay and finish his bachelor's degree at Western Carolina for another 10 months. If we end up in the same town after his graduation, well, that'll be an interesting journey. There are two positives to this move concerning Chris: 1) It's only 2 hours away. I never made it to Kentucky because of the snow before I was offered this job. So, I'll still in the neighborhood. 2) It's Chris's hometown. The majority of his family lives within a 15-mile radius from my new apartment, and so he won't be spending all his gas money to come see me. When I'm at work, he'll have something to do. He can visit his mom and dad and his high school friends. He won't just be sitting at my apartment staring at the television waiting for me to come. I played that game once... I was in a long distance relationship for nearly a year. It was torture. I was a student. He had a full-time job. Every time I visited, I sat in his apartment waiting for him to come home from work. Every time he visited, he sat in my apartment and waited for me to come home from class --- or I skipped class, which is just as bad. Our relationship was made up of how to say goodbye as quickly and painlessly as possible (For skeptics who believe long distance doesn't work, I will say that we made it through our long distance relationship. Hilariously enough, it was moving in together that ultimately led to our very nasty, painful split.). In this case, it will be different because Chris won't be relying on me as his sole source for making the trip. Still, our nightly routine of making dinner, caring  for Nimbus as he hops around the house and watching "Storm Chasers" or "White Collar" will be at an end. I will miss his company more than anything else. He is my best friend. Whether or not we'll ever be officially more than that (again) is still up for debate. It goes back and forth. But, that will never change the fact that I love Chris, and him not being around to share my day makes life look a little dimmer. The thought that it will just be me, Sparta and Nimbus again breaks my heart.

So now, I have exactly one week left before we head to our new home!!! Any ideas on how to make this as stress-less on Nimbus as possible?!?!? He'll be riding in the cat carrier for two hours, but I'll be in the car alone. If he gets it in his head to rip through the rubber mesh, ...we're in trouble! There will only be so much I can do to stop him besides pulling the car over. Let's hope he behaves! Right now, the plan is to have the chinchilla cage be the first item unpacked from the U-Haul and moved into the new apartment. But... yep, that's as far as I've gotten!

Can we go now?