Have money, tent, & air mattress, will travel

I got my travel money today. Woo-hoo!!!

I have a new air mattress that sleeps better than my bed. I've found a cute little laptop computer, a "netbook". Despite its small size, it does everything the bigger guys do except play CDs and DVDs. But as my friend Kyle said, "Who needs movies when you have dazzling scenery every day?!" The netbook also has a built-in webcam. Rigdon won't forget me! And I can carry the computer around in a moderately large purse.

I'm on the lookout for a reasonably priced digital camera.

Gotta be out of the apartment Saturday but will spend a few days at Daniel & Erin's before hitting the road. Lots to do. Need to get my windshield wipers fixed. They insist upon going full-speed only. Makes me look a bit over-zealous in light rain. All I need to do is drive 20 miles an hour with my nose pressed to the steering wheel and I'll look like the other drivers here who panic with the slightest precipitation, terrorized by the transplanted New Yorkers whizzing past.

I'm going to miss Greenville though. I love walking downtown, seeing just about every ethnic group represented and hearing a variety of regional accents. And it's heartwarming to see New Yorkers-turned-friendly. A NY transplant once told me that when he first moved here, he felt intensely paranoid by all of the friendliness. "In New York, people on the street only smile at you when they're getting ready to pick your pocket," he said. Now he is, himself, boisterously convivial.

But I'll be returning to Greenville. I have a lengthy list of reasons, topped with the three most precious people in my life.

One short oar

It feels odd being intentionally unemployed when so many people's lives are being turned upside down by loss of employment. But I'm accustomed to feeling odd. So, here I am, floating down the river of life now with one short oar, having tossed a perfectly good one out for someone else to find.

My last day of employment was Thursday, January 15. My co-workers took me to lunch at City Range (yum) and presented me with a generous gift of $220 (that's about 15 tanks of gas for my Civic at current prices...yaay) and a wonderful memory quilt designed and sewn by talented FELers (what a treasure!!). The quilted blocks include squares of fabric on which my co-workers had written messages to me. On the back will be (it wasn't quite finished Thursday) a group picture and a message: "Presented to Cheryl by her friends at Fabric Editions with admiration and affection as she embarks upon 'SERENDIPITY: A RADICAL SABBATICAL,' her cross-country adventure." Below the message is a picture of the U.S. and a little red car. What a special gift! As I roam beyond my Southern homeland, meeting one unfamiliar person after another, it will be my security blanket to remind me of good friends back home. It's the sort of thing that helps the short-oared keep going.