Rhonda Sparkles: Loose Ends

It was probably only a matter of time. It's probably that I get restless, or bored, or anxious, or hungry that I decide to move as often as I do. I've lived on Kent Island (round 2) for 1 year, 8 months, and 1 week, and the car's getting loaded up Saturday. I mean, it's not to say that the past 1 year, 8 months, and 1 week have been altogether distressing. But packing and moving really suck, and if it wasn't for the impending, exigent, urgent change that I feel I so badly need, I'd make the best of Island living, renew my EZ Pass, and call it a day. But alas, it's change that I need, and moving to the other end of the state is a pretty solid way of getting it.

Like, okay, so come Monday morning when I start my new job in my new city in my new (I wish) clothes, things in my day would go a just a little differently than they do now. Well first, I wouldn't be waking up 40 minutes before my alarm when the two dogs start barking--one of them downstairs and the other outside my door. I wouldn't hear them bark for 5 seconds, rest for 3, and then start again, thus effectively making it impossible to fall back asleep in the lull before the cacophony resumed. No, that wouldn't happen. Doubtless, I don't think I would be about to walk out the door for work before realizing the very-stuffed toy on the floor is a very real squirrel that was dragged in by one of the five cats (really only 2 in the running, leaving out the nice one, the new one, and the fat one). I'd save a couple minutes right there when I wouldn't have to sweep the squirrel into the dustpan and walk him (her?) across the street to the neighbor's yard, just out of the kitties' reach. But I think I'd be okay with that.

Once I'm at the new office for work, having arrived in a timely manner after not needing to check online to make sure the bridge off the Island isn't closed, backed up, or otherwise conveniently inaccessible, my day might go a little differently then, too. Like, I'm thinking that there wouldn't be the need to check if I need to put on the massive frozen yogurt mascot costume for a birthday party that day. And, you know, while sitting at my new desk with my nifty new headset and clickety new keyboard, I don't think it's likely that I'd need to ask every customer if they have a "Smileage" card, and tell them that they can earn "Smiles" with every purchase, and then feel ridiculous for being 26 and telling strangers that the more fro yo they buy the more Smiles they can earn.

Presumably, my sweet office set-up most likely would not post labels for different frozen yogurt flavors along the wall; I take that to mean I won't secretly be judging every customer that says how good "that sherbert" is, while pointing to the Pomegranate Raspberry Sorbet. I think I would enjoy not constantly wondering how the general population can add both an "h" and "r" to one tiny little word. And best of all, while calmly speaking into my headset and clicking on my keyboard, I kinda have the feeling that wondering where that smell is coming from, finding a clogged toilet in the men's room, unclogging the toilet, and wondering who in the world decided to come into a cute, colorful, little fro yo shop to take a massive shit just wouldn't happen...in the middle of the day, no less.

Ah, yes, change sounds lovely. Maybe I'll get the car loaded up Friday.

I suppose I'd be remiss if I was to forget that it was this exact change that brought me back to Kent Island 1 year, 8 months, and 1 week ago. Back then, I would have had my own list of what things in my life would change when I left Cumberland, substituting the words, "squirrel," "Smiles," "sherbert," and, "toilet" for something else, most likely. I recall that it was only after I moved out of Cumberland that I remembered just how many things I enjoyed about being there, and how many exceptional things in my life wouldn't have happened had I not been in that exact place during that exact time.

Well, I think I can do the same for Kent Island.

If I had never moved to Kent Island, I probably wouldn't have finally hung out with Jack. I knew Jack for years when I lived in Western Maryland; but when living close is a convenience, it's pretty easy to figure you'll get together, "some other time." And Jack and I never once got together...then. Once I moved hours away from convenience, Jack was one of the only people that made the lengthy drive just to see, well, me. And that was pretty damn cool. If I had never moved, Jack would never have had a reason to hang out with me in Annapolis. He wouldn't have bought us dinners at a price I would have thought to be hefty for a group of ten. We wouldn't have spent hours sampling fine oils and vinegars, and I wouldn't have known that that could be a fun thing to do on a Saturday night. Jack wouldn't have bought me my (still) favorite workout outfit from lulu lemon to wear to Bikram yoga the next day. And I never would have tried Bikram yoga!

Moving back to Kent Island put me so much closer to my family and old friends, and I know that the sheer proximity to everyone meant that we'd get to hang out so much more. This meant girls' night concerts in Atlantic City with my sister and mom, complete with the ridiculous spread of posed photos in the hotel room pre-concert. This meant seeing (and some participating in) Thunder from Down Under at Ram's Head with my stepmom, and with the tickets that my dad bought us. This also meant finally hanging out with my two best friends from high school at Six Flags over the summer. Had I still lived in Western Maryland, I'm pretty sure the long drive out of Cumberland may have compelled me to take a raincheck, and then I never would have been relieved to find out my old best friends were still, well, the best.

I took my job in Annapolis basically because it was the only place that actually got back to me. I was there for almost seven months before I finally had a coworker that was older than me. Reba, who I thought was sixteen for the first few hours after we met, turned out to be one of my closest friends to this day. She was this petite, cute, and awesomely tattooed girl, and in the short eight months she was in Annapolis with me, she made work and life that much easier and funnier. She was there to witness me drinking my first green beer on St. Patty's Day, and was the one documenting how well I could handle getting a tattoo...which turned out to be a memory forever etched in me.

I'm pretty certain that if I had stayed out in Western Maryland, I wouldn't have been motivated to train for, and run, my fifth half marathon with my sister, who was running her first, this past March. It was this half marathon that motivated me to keep training, and then to run my personal best half marathon time two months later. It's kinda funny, actually; it was during the training for the March half that I decided to make a little trip to Fleet Feet...where I bought some running shoes.

And then, I wrote a blog.

The blog came about pretty randomly. I knew I loved writing, but I thought I knew nothing about writing. And I never knew what to write about. Nobody finds it interesting to read about my problems, or why my life sucks, or how many squirrels I swept up last week. But as it turned out, that trip to Fleet Feet, where I went to get my Newtons and become the best runner in the whole wide world, gave me a story. A point. It kinda...didn't suck.

My first blog, "I got the shoes," paved the way for all the ones that followed, which attempted to find the humor in an awkward story, and also make frequent offense to my exes. There was the group-run-that-almost-wasn't at Fleet Feet; the shoe-buying, Menchie-suit, birthday surprise for my sister; the shout-out to my trainer Sean, who did his best to make me not-fat; and the one about the effing ex that moved, never told me, but ended with me eating crabs. These were all my attempt to share with others, connect with others, and hopefully show others that I'm not perfect, but maybe life is better that way.

***

I guess when it comes down to it, I am pretty sad about leaving Kent Island--the place that was home to so many meaningful events over the last 1 year, 8 months, and 1 week. Maybe my move back to Cumberland isn't just about changing the little annoyances that I dealt with on a daily basis. I know a lot of things in my daily life are going to change come Saturday, and I'm sure that will get annoying after a while, anyway. I have a feeling, however, that the things that really matter will still stay the same no matter what: my family, my friends, and the things I have to offer others in the world. My writing, for one. My writing that started as a result of all the random, funny, awkward, boring things that only would have happened with my decision to change, and move, to Kent Island. I know that my writing is one of the best things that will stay the same with my move to Western Maryland.

That, and I still have exes in Cumberland.