Dear Sanna - MOVING IS HARD

As I mentioned earlier, the full impact of the changes haven't really sunk in yet, so it is very exciting as each aspect becomes more and more real to me. And now, a story:

So I'm in the airport, pushing the limits as usual. Each of the two suitcases I checked (even though I had to pay extra for the second. grrr) is on a scale, and I'm transferring items from one to the other until each weighs exactly 50.5, the maximum before you're charged for overweight baggage. How I managed to pack exactly 101 pounds worth of things is a miracle I happily accept without question. For now we'll ignore the ridiculous weight of what I've already shipped home. But really the whole point of this story is that the incredibly patient and nice woman checking me in (it helped that I was about 3 hours early for once in my life and there was nobody else in the airport) was helping me transfer and shove things. She noticed my pointe shoes and asked if I was a professional, and I had an epiphany! I have a job next year... meaning I will be paid to dance... meaning... I AM A PROFESSIONAL BALLERINA! wohoooo! It's funny that I had to see it through a stranger's point of view to realize how cool that is! I just had to share.

But enough of Janie bragging and telling long, dramatic stories all for stating the obvious... can I just say moving is really HARD. Even though I'm really kind of callous to the emotional difficulties of moving right now, it is just hard work! My arms were shaking today from all the heavy lifting. I'm hoping I take away from this experience not only the fact that I am a pack rat, which I already knew, but maybe the first steps in changing that about myself. I have given away more in the past month than I think I have given away in all my life combined. And there's still so much! I've been trying this technique lately and it helps a little. I ask myself if somebody else would think I was sick for keeping something, and if the answer is yes, then it goes. Such as, a vogue dated holiday 2006. Granted, it was really thick and I continuously found cool stuff in it up to this day, but the idea of saving that without any specific thing that made it special sounded sick, so I tossed it. It's a start at least...

Janie