The Accidental Olympian

SQUATTERS

This is what our lives have looked like since APRIL 22ND. It is now May 16th and we are still without basic things like a real bed, chairs that don't collapse, or things like cooking utensils. Thankfully our things arrive tomorrow (!!!!!) and by the end of the weekend, knowing Adam and I, every single item will be put away by Sunday night. When you go without your things for weeks and then you suddenly have them all again you enter a state of frantic unpacking and refuse to stop until everything is complete. 

 

Recently I was thinking about the last home cooked meal we had. It was April 25th, the night before we were leaving Alaska. We had planned to eat something like a frozen pizza as our cooking utensils had been taken away two days earlier, but then we received the most wonderful offer. Two dear friends arrived with halibut chili, cornbread, toppings, beer, and even bowls and spoons. They served up the meal and afterwards sat on our bare floor with us.

These two had been the reason we'd loved Alaska. The first weekend we arrived they invited us over for Cinco de Mayo burritos. Welcome to Alaska! They'd invited us to dinners, parties, and introduced us to their friends. We went backpacking, fishing, made dinner, enjoyed drinks, watched hockey, played games, laughed, and when Adam and I found ourselves alone on Christmas, they joined us for dinner and a movie. We watched each other's dogs, took vacations together (or "couples retreats" as Adam once drunkenly coined them), and they helped us explore and fall in love Alaska. 

On that final night in Alaska it was fitting we spent it with the people who helped make Alaska such an amazing place. 

Sipping beers on our bare floors we all seemed a little quieter than normal. We knew this was our last night in Alaska, and although we'd see each other at the wedding, and we knew they'd come visit us in Chicago, this was our last, Hey want to have dinner together? I'll be over in ten, moment. 

When we hugged good-bye that final time I came upstairs and cried, for the hundredth time that week, as these are the kind of friends where when they knew we had nothing, brought us something. 

 

So we sit in our empty house this week, waiting for our things and I think of them. It makes me sad to know they aren't here now in Chicago, that we can't turn to them for comedic relief and support in this moment, but I'm also so thankful. That they were there in Alaska. That they wanted to be around us as much as we wanted to be around them. That we'll be together in some 50 odd days at the wedding. That they'll come to Chicago and we'll visit them in Alaska.

That we are lucky enough to know them at all...

ILLNESS

I feel ill and I'm not sure why, but I have some theories.

Maybe it's because I'm sick of living like a squatter with nothing more than camp chairs and an air bed in an empty house that still doesn't feel like home.

Maybe it's because I haven't cooked a meal in my own home since April 22nd and have been living off corn dogs, jerky and restaurants. 

Maybe I feel ill because change is hard and the last three weeks have been nothing but change followed by more change, followed by more change, on top of some change, with a side of change. 

Maybe it's because in the move I forgot to fill my prescription for my antidepressants and then I got them filled here in Illinois, but then I flew to Seattle before they were ready, and all of a sudden I'm snapping them in half with my tweezers in a bathroom hoping this sudden tapering and even skipping of days wont do what it has done. Make me feel sick to my stomach and snappy and a little panicy. Times ten. 

Maybe I feel ill because I held everything I have left to do for the wedding off until the move and my work trip to Seattle were over, and now those things are over and oh dear god my to-do list for the wedding just got real you guys. Like, hold me real. 

Maybe it's the whole sleeping on an air bed for three weeks, causing me to never get a good nights sleep plus this whole thing where I'm not starting work till 9am where it used to be 7:30, but Adam's up at 6:30 when I'm supposed to be sleeping, and fuck it's too light in here, and WHY CAN'T I JUST GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP ANYMORE?

 

I am confused, and feel sick, and dizzy, and I have no idea which way is up anymore. Our things arrive on Friday and I hope that by Sunday night when I'm cooking my first real meal since they packed our things on April 22nd, and then I go to bed in my real bed for the first time in weeks that things will finally make sense. 

Finally. 

DON'T BLINK

I was in Alaska, and then for 6 days we drove across Canada to get to Chicago, and then we were in Chicago, and then before I knew it I was on a plane retracing all that ground I covered in the car and landing in Seattle. Then I was saying hi to coworkers, and then saying hi to friends and babies who got so big since I last saw them and yes I'd love a glass of wine and let's stay up till way past my bedtime talking about nothing and everything and man I love this place. 

Tonight it's another marathon catch-up, another amazing friend happens to be in town, oh look this meeting at work is my favorite of the year where we learn about all the new books we'll be marketing and working with and have I mentioned how much I love books and my job? Then it's Friday and pretending we're young and hip and can still stay out late even though knowing us all we really want to do is stay in and watch bad tv and drink wine and talk over one another like we always do but it's ok because this is our magical language and we simply can't function any other way because we're sisters and always have been. 

Before I know it it will be over and I'll have said good-bye again, but not forever because I'll be in Chicago but before I know it I'll board the plane again, this time to see all my favorite women in one place for an entire weekend that's just about laughing. My brain is unable to conceptualize how amazing this will be. This weekend about friendship. And I'll blink and it will be July 6th and we'll all be together once again except more. So much more. More times 100 with the most important people our lives in one single place. And there will be food and our favorite drinks, tears and hugs and so much love and he'll be my husband and we'll dance and I'll get to put that ring on his finger we bought for him so long ago that's been sitting in my ring box. Each night I take mine off and put it in the box with his and I know that soon, soon he'll wear his too and people will clap and I'll probably cry and he'll be my husband. 

This week is awesome and crazy and I'm tired and I live out of a suitcase but it's also the most amazing time of my life and I'm going to blink and it's all going to be over. Isn't it?

ALASKA TO CHICAGO ROAD TRIP – DAY 5, 6, & WE MADE IT!

A. Anchorage, AK – Start

B. Haines Junction, Yukon – Day 1 

C. Muncho Lake, British Columbia – Day 2

D. Valleyview, Alberta  –Day 3

E. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Day 4

F. Grand Forks, ND – Day 5

G. HOME! Lake Bluff, IL – Day 6 (one day ahead of schedule!)

TOTAL MILES COVERED: 3,582 miles

 

Last time I checked in it was at the end of Day 4 when we arrived in blizzarding Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Day 5 was all about getting the HELL out of the late April blizzard and making it back into the US. If you follow me on Instagram you saw that as far as getting out of the snow, we sucked miserably at that. 

At one point we stopped at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, and while Adam used a wrench to knock the clumps of ice that had accumulated on the car, I tried to get the dogs to go to the bathroom. This of course was a miserable task because Adam and I had no idea that we'd spend the entire trip in a blizzard and had NOT packed the correct items. There I am, standing in the snow with my hood up, wearing way too few clothes, being pelted in the face with stinging snow, WITHOUT GLOVES, trying to get the equally miserable dogs to pee in the storm. It wasn't my best look. 

When we packed for this road trip we never in a million years thought we'd spend 5 of the 6 days of our trip driving SOUTH dealing with late April blizzards. Not snow flurries, but full on sheets of ice on the road, whiteout conditions, insanity. Couple that with the mind-numbingly straight and flat scenery, it was a dull couple of days. 

But we made it to the US where we quickly found that Grand Forks, ND, because of the oil boom is the kind of place where you can ride in on a Tuesday night and have 20 normal hotels in the area and have NONE of them have rooms. Which led us to the Ramada Inn. Also known as Adam's worst nightmare. 

Everything about this hotel was sketch. From the broken glass door into the building, to the water stains on the ceiling, to the BLACK HAIRS IN MY SHEETS, this place screamed Run for the hills. But when you just spent 14 hours in the car driving in a blizzard and it's 11pm, you put on as many clothes as you can (less skin touching the sheets), and sleep on the top of the sheets using only the comforter. Also, send out a quick prayer you don't contract something. 

 

Next was Day 6, operation Get Home, and after spending time through North Dakota and Minnesota looking at nothing more interesting than this:

We finally inched closer to home. Wisconsin won an award on the trip for finally having some actual interesting things to look at. Lakes! Trees! Hills! Even a few hilarious signs for "ski resorts." Come on Wisconsin, you're not fooling anyone. 

Finally, on Day 6, with 3,582 miles behind us we rolled up to our new house. Tired, dirty, and sick of the car. We opened a bottle of bubbly, took a shower, and fell asleep.

We were finally "home".

ALASKA TO CHICAGO ROAD TRIP – DAY 4

A. Anchorage, AK – Start

B. Haines Junction, Yukon – Day 1 

C. Muncho Lake, British Columbia – Day 2

D. Valleyview, Alberta  –Day 3

E. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Day 4

TOTAL MILES: 2,264 

 

Making progress, but we're still at minimum two days out. Today was pretty lame by all accounts because it turns out the middle of Canada is flat, flat, and more flat, and really boring. I can't sleep in cars, trains or planes, and even I tried to curl up in a ball and fall asleep to pass the time. Sorry Alberta and Saskatchewan, I wont be coming back to vacation. Ever. 

One thing that helped break up the day today was a stop in Edmonton to checkout the largest mall in North America. You see, the Mall of America is always the one that gets on tv, but the mall in Edmonton, Alberta is bigger! In fact, it's the 5th largest in the WORLD. Wrap our mind around that for a second. For me, the simple fact there was a full size pirate ship in the middle of the mall with an aquarium and sea lions was enough to impress me.

 

BUT, the best part was we got to see the traveling Princess Diana exhibit. 

Yes, in the middle of Canada, in the fifth largest mall in the world, Adam and I got to see Diana's wedding dress, her crown, her famous clothes, a memorial to her funeral and her life of charity work. It was a really great display, and just the ability to see her wedding dress up close was worth the price of admission. And to think, I saw it in the middle of a mall!

Tomorrow we return to the US and our only game plan to rid ourselves of the boredom of flat flat flat nothing is to switch drivers each time we stop for a pee break. That and more Red Bull. Lots, and lots, and lots of Red Bull.