Big haps

The move is done. Mostly. There are still a few random things at my old apartment - basically some scattered stuff in the kitchen and the art on the walls in the living room. I'm not exactly stressed about being able to get that out over the next three days. Plus, Gary ended up staying in that apartment and getting new roomies, so even if I get hit by a bus tomorrow and end up in the hospital for a month, that stuff will still be there when I get out. Except for maybe some of the food. But, you know, if I get hit by a bus, I doubt I'm going to worry too much about who ate my box of Nilla Wafers.

Since my fiancée definitely does not have the space, and we also aren't real thrilled about the economy and the prospects of a home improvement loan at this point (plus, you know, there's that wholoe wedding thing to pay for), the vast majority of the books and DVDs (and all of the comics) went into storage. Which is actually cooler than it sounds, because we got a large enough unit to be able to actually set up the bookcases and DVD shelves. The storage place isn't far away from the house at all, so it's not going to be a big deal to head over there and grab some stuff. We have some empty bookshelves and such at the house, and the plan is to just rotate chunks in and out every whenever necessary. It'll work until another option makes itself more available.

Moving 14-15 bookcases worth of books down a flight of stairs is fun. No, really.

So here I am living with somebody I'm engaged to. Pretty cool. All the time I hear "why aren't you married?" and it's actually kinda hard for me to believe that I've never been engaged/married before - not because I think I'm some kinda hot property, but just because I was in two pretty serious long-term relationships before. Stef and I always talked about how neither of us thought a piece of paper would add much to things, and we were in no huge hurry and would end up doing it on a beach somewhere while we held coconuts, but I wonder how much of that was actually ourselves unconsciously recognizing that we really weren't supposed to be together. Especially considering how quickly she got married and got a baby when she did find the right guy, and how quick I was to recognize that Angela was somebody I needed to marry before she got away from me. And Mindi - well, to be honest, I'm not sure why the subject of marriage/engagement never seemed to be seriously broached. There was one memorable night when I really thought the two of us might just get in the car and head for Vegas, but that passed and then it never really seemed to come back. Over the years I've often thought that she was the one real opportunity I was ever going to get, and I went and missed it.

I was wrong.

All of this is cool as hell, but it's also a little bit odd. Not odd-bad, just odd-odd. I'm finally turning into a real live honest adult with 2 kids and a house and 2 dogs and a yard and a barbeque grill. And about six and a half months from now, I'm going to stand at the end of an aisle and watch my beautiful baby walk towards me on her father's arm. I have the feeling that everything up to this point has been prologue, and the real adventures are about to begin.

Gonna be a brave new world.