In Lafayette
So,
Hopefully I haven't been defriended for my seriously downer posts. my mother informed me the other day that when they're having a day that just doesn't go as planned...they call it a "Lauren day." I can't really argue with that. It seems like things don't generally go as planned...and at this point, I have no funds available for a backup plan.
So. This time, things actually went according to plan. In large part thanks to amazing friends. ninniane , Crush Boy, and a bunch of quasi strangers who really stuck their necks out, like my new roommates, Brooke and Eric.
I got all my stuff together on December 2nd, which included 2 suitcases, a hiking backpack, a regular backpack, a carry on, and a duffel bag....oh and a partrich in a pear tree ...and carried it down three flights of stairs, after getting half of it together on December 1st and ninniane bringing her car to my rescue. Then I was going to take all of this on public transit. by myself. a quick look had me rethinking that plan. So i spent 20 bucks to take a cab to greyhound(possibly the best 20 bucks i've ever spent), and 15 bucks later, i was on the bus to Indiana, where Crush Boy met me with my suitcases. All seven of them, and packed them into his car. He then let me, and my prodigious amounts of crap reside at his place until the 7th, at which point I left all my stuff at his place and returned to Chicago to take a final, pick up my son, come BACK to Lafayette, and stay at his place for another week before taking the rest of my stuff (graciously driven ANOTHER 3 hours) to my new apartment.
A NOTE ON MY NEW APARTMENT>
It's nothing fancy. For the same price I was paying, I get windows that leak, a small water heater ( we're talking five minutes of hot water...max) a toilet that doesn't flush, two really smelly dogs, and slivers of glass so that I really SHOULDN'T walk around barefoot. (do i? yes. which is why yesterday I squirmed like a baby while Crush boy picked at my foot with a knife)
I also have roommates who are probably the most laid back people I've met, a really understanding landlord, and a lease that's only until July. It's not perfect. Nothing ever is. But I have my son, I have food on the table, a pretty decent sized kitchen equiped with everything I need to cook, a host of people willing to babysit for free, and a dancing scene where kids are welcome. Not that Chicago dancers dislike kids, or that Chicago is necessarily BAD for kids. But taking the train anywhere takes time, which means that if a dance gets out at 11...i get home at midnight, and maybe taking a little boy on the trains after nine at night isn't the best idea in the World...not to mention there are exactly two venues that are kid-friendly that I can think of, other than house parties...of which there are many....well, chicago is past, let's not dwell.
I'm feeling vaguely positive, in spite of the fact that my ex is being a bastard and I don't think I have money to go home for the holidays. Yay moving forward!