22 days

When I started this blog late last summer, I called it "No Place Like Home" for two reasons. One, I had just moved to the town where I grew up. Two, the place where I was working caters to the city's tourism and the city's tourism, for the summer months anyway, is really into Wizard of Oz themed stuff, from a small theme park. Apparently Frank Baum thought up his character Dorothy while he was residing in my town. I grew up walking down a yellow brick road whenever my parents took me to the park and later on, I worked at that amusement park for four summers. If you know me, metaphors climb into my head and work overtime once they've made themselves comfortable. The "yellow brick road/coming home after college" thing did it for me. Or maybe it did me in.

Regardless, I moved back to my college town 22 days ago. I have been homeless for 22 days. And as crazy as I am right now, having my shoes (my shoes!) stuck in my car trunk, half my clothes sitting in a hamper next to Amanda's kitchen table, my writing and computer stuff stashed in another friend's closet and everything else I own in a storage unit in a town that even Frank Baum left, I couldn't be happier. I won't lie; it is a struggle to make ends meet right now. Two jobs and very little free time with friends does make me a little sad. But a potential apartment is on the very near horizon. I know my situation looks pretty dire right now, but I haven't regretted a second of it. I think that may be the biggest thing working in my favor right now. A lot of people wouldn't have had the guts to do what I did, even if it was just back to Brookings. To just pack everything, give up your apartment in the middle of the winter and go...more than one person has told me, several times, that I'm an idiot. But I've always gone after what I want. When things are this difficult, why in the world would I stop now?