Almost time

I may be in danger of overloading on nostalgia. Anything that has a picture or reference to Brooklyn on it is now like heroin to me--I must have it. I bought two really overpriced pillows, one with a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge on it and another with a map of Brooklyn, a tray with the skyline of Brooklyn (compliments of Fishs Eddy), Brooklyn coasters, the list goes on and on. Can you tell I'm nesting? I'm nesting in a big way.

But maybe this is a good sign. The last time I left New York, I just packed up my things and left. There was no effort to collect things that would remind me of home. On Wednesday I went to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and took about 9,000 pictures of the bridge and Manhattan skyline, with the intent to frame the best ones. Hell, I even got a new subway map so I could have that in the new place, too. Maybe this is a sign that I really am saying goodbye for good. I've also been saying goodbye to all my friends here, and I've decided that although saying goodbye sucks, I also haven't had to buy my own drinks in two weeks. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Tomorrow I really say goodbye, at my going-away party, and then Sunday I once again hit the open road--this time with everything I own and two miserable cats in tow. I'll try to update from my sister's place in Gulfport, which I'm officially designating as the halfway point. I arrive in San Diego (God willing and the creeks don't rise) next Saturday morning. Everyone pray for me in the next week. Pray that my knee holds through multiple days of 16-hour driving, pray that the cats don't howl the whole way, pray that the truck doesn't break down somewhere in the middle of the night in West Texas, pray that none of my dishware or glassware breaks en route, pray that this really is a Cinderella story and I don't get suckerpunched like I did last time. Pray also that I can find a way to hook up my iPod to the moving truck, because I don't relish the thought of having to depend on the radio all the way there.

Which reminds me--I should go trim the cats' claws so I don't end up in San Diego in small pieces...