GOODBYE AND HELLO

Just when we thought we had the whole pets thing down, Dallas, Texas, went and threw a wrench in our cogs. A nut in our bolts. A bolt in our nuts. Whatever. Anyway--yay, Dallas! You hot, burning, sweltering city, you! Way to go! Way to make me...hot under the collar. Overheated. Intemperate. It's a looooooong story, so I'll spare my readers the fevered furry details; suffice to say that we bought our plane tickets thinking the pets could travel with us, but now they can't, because it will be too hot in Dallas during the layover. Basically, the airline doesn't want them to cook in cargo. So...they can't fly with us after all. So...we need to find another way to get them to Costa Rica.

Having spent 8650 hours on the phone the other day trying to figure out how to bring a rabbit to Costa Rica (the only way, apparently, is by sedating it heavily and wearing it as a hat on the plane) I let Joedy call around about getting the dogs and Lapis there. Throughout the afternoon we wondered: should we send them by boat? Leave them in California until it's cooler and they don't run the risk of turning into bisque in their carriers? Call NASA and see if any domestic animals are needed for a quick jaunt to a distant planet, with a return destination of San Jose, Costa Rica? I briefly thought of eating them, thereby getting them there at least in some form, but in the end that just didn't seem logical, especially after all the money we'd have spent at the vet and the groomer's before the trip.

Besides the not-quite-a-fiasco-but-almost pet fiasco, things are going pretty well. As noted above we have our tickets (Joedy will fly out on the 18th to--hopefully--find a house, and Lula, Malko, and I will meet him on the 28th) and we had a pretty successful yard sale this past weekend. We'll have another one this coming weekend, and if no one buys the rest of our crap I might resort to paying them to take it. It's strange: I thought getting possession-less would be somewhat traumatic, or at least interesting-feeling, but except for a little regret and nostalgia here and there it hasn't really affected me. Maybe it will when we move into our new furnished rental and discover it's not furnished after all!

After the yard sale Saturday we had a going-away party at one of our favorite local spots--the Padaro Grill in Summerland. It's a restaurant by the beach with picnic tables and roomy wooden armchairs, a big sandbox, and the perfect view, in the evening, of the sun sinking into the Pacific. Whenever we'd go there, in the last five years or so, Joedy and I would comment on what a great place it would be for a party. We had Lula's birthday there last year, and it seemed natural to choose it for a gathering of friends to "say goodbye." I put that in quotes because, driving home at the end of the evening, high on all the hugs and love we exchanged with our friends, Joedy and I felt that it had been more of a "hello party" than anything else. As a couple we've been quiet, socially, the past few years--downright hermits compared to the party animals we used to be--but it feels like the pendulum might be swinging back in the other direction. Costa Rica is a popular place now, so it's likely we'll have visitors there, but despite that I think things are shifting in a way that will make us more open to friends altogether. When we met, Joedy was the social butterfly and I was shy, then I became the social butterfly and he retreated. Saturday afternoon, hanging out with people we've come to know and love during our 13-year Santa Barbara life, hearing them say "see you soon," I realized that our going-away party marked not an end, but a beginning, and not sadness, but happiness: rather than saying goodbye, it felt like we were saying hello.

Going through all our desk files and stacks of photos, weeding out the old and useless and getting a picture, from all those pictures, of our life until now, I've been struck by how much we're starting anew, Joedy and I. Physically, it's clear, we're doing something big and different--we're leaving the place we've lived for the past 13 years--and I know there'll be many, many other changes manifesting on many other levels. Last night I dreamed a tidal wave was about to crash over my head and sweep me away. In the dream it was scary, but I think I was ready for it.