Leaving the Coast.

Moving is a scary thing. I didn't realize how stressful it was until I woke up one morning and half of my face wasn't moving. Seriously. I thought I'd had a stroke. I didn't. Apparently some people get cold sores when they are under serious stress...I got Bell's Palsy. Google it. It's weird.

So my face is half frozen for three weeks just as I'm about to quit my job, pack up my little Volkswagon and move from the Suburbs of Sacramento to the middle of Minnesota.

Who does that? Apparently ME.

It's funny. I've been in the Great North (no snow yet, but it is still August...we'll give it a few more weeks). for about a month now. My face is functioning properly again. Except when I yawn...there are some remnants of the paralysis that make an appearance. It's pretty entertaining though. Anyways...people know I'm new in town. It might be the California plates, maybe what's left of my tan. Maybe the faux hawk I've been sporting... or the fact that I don't say "I 'spose" or "so" at the end of every sentence.

I don't know.

But when people hear I'm from California and that I've just moved to Brainerd, Minnesota of all places the response I usually get is "WHY?" And it's not just a curious "why" it's an "ARE YOU INSANE " why.

It's cool. I can deal with it. So...here I am. Hanging onto every last moment of summer. Wondering if winter is as bad as they say it is. There are definitely moments of total panic. Where I can hardly breath and wonder what I have done to my life...but they are short-lived and allow for a fairly quick recovery.

My life in Sacramento was CRAZY busy. I loved it that way. But as the chaos has come to a screeching halt and I find myself with lots of time to think and read and write and go out on any one of thousands of lakes (by the way...a lake beach is SO NOT an ocean beach but they call it "the beach" anyways) and

...I think, "Ya, I can do this."

So begins the Adventures in the Middle. I'm not sure who will be more cultured shocked. Me adjusting to Minnesota or Minnesota adjusting to me. Stay tuned. It's guaranteed to be at the very least...interesting.