One Year

One year ago tomorrow I left Mississippi for the Pacifical Northwest.

Amazing.

Some days it feels like I just got here. Other days it feels like I have been here for years. And often Mississippi feels like a whole different lifetime and world. And I mean that in a good way.

I realized yesterday I have had this blog for almost three years. I started it after going to a workshop where I got all excited about starting a library-related blog. A few weeks later my dad died and the focus of the blog changed quickly. Several times in the following two years I almost deleted it. I felt like I was exposing too much of myself during a very private, personal struggle. I would post things and then delete them. Or start them and then never publish them.

But now, looking back, I am really glad I stuck with it. I was able to document my life during a tough time, to document my life living in a place I kind of understood. I documented my move across the country. And now I'm kind of digging this whole blog thing.

So, one year ago today, I took pictures of Sweet Pickles' bathroom. I met the cleaning ladies I hired to clean my place and chatted with them while they swept up three years worth of cat hair. I watched the weather non-stop because I was worried I would hit nasty storms in the Arkansas Delta or the Missouri Bootheel. I met Frenchie for lunch one last time. I think we went to Newk's. The night before we went to Ajax so I could get fried pickles one last time.

And then the next morning, bright and early, I left a note for Sweet Pickles on his kitchen table, and I dove out of town about 6:30 in the morning, beginning the biggest and longest road trip I have ever been on.

My last May in Mississippi.

In Transition Part I, Mississippi to Iowa.

In Transition Part II, Iowa to Wyoming.

In Transition Part III, Wyoming to Montana.

In Transition Part IV, Montana to Washington.