A WORD on Moving: Leaving Home, and Not Leaving Home.

There is this old parable about the girl who went half way across the world to meet the boy next door. I remember it vaguely from my childhood. The story went something like this: there was this girl who was determined that her soulmate was out there, so she left home on this grand adventure to a place far far away to find him. In this place she meets a boy that she's crazy about and it turns out they have a lot in common...down to their address. She lives in Apt 5F, and he lives in Apt 5E.

Well, I cased the island of Manhattan looking for an apartment, and finally found one...in the building opposite from my parents. In the same complex that they live in, and what's more, my mother once lived in this exact apartment when she was single. I am the girl who went searching all over town for the apartment next door.

But all irony aside, yes, I'm moving and it is quite official. In exchange for poverty, I will finally be able to hear my own thoughts, under my own roof.

My impending date-of-habitation has given me the opportunity to participate in something every Virgo loves more than Christmas: the opportunity to organize organize ORGANIZE!!!! That is how I recently spent my Saturday. And in doing this I had the chance to experience something quite unexpected: my life in the past year and a half was literally paraded before my eyes.

Now I have to talk about my friend Don. Don once told me that in the first year out of college and into the adult world, you become the person you are ultimately going to be. Whoa! No pressure there. There is also another point in mentioning Don. This might be hard to believe, but sometimes I tend to whine a bit when I'm stressed out, or things aren't going my way. Don, in particular, has reminded me more than once that I lead a fantastic life. And sometimes I do need reminding.

Saturday was interesting. Around my parents' apartment I went, waltzing with a giant trash bag. I took no prisoners. But when I say I literally relived the past year and a half, I mean it. In the course of the Great Clean, I found movie stubs to every movie I went to, and with each one I remembered what time of year it was and who I went with. I found programs to the Philharmonic and Shakespeare in the Park. I found the Broadway Playbills I've amassed over the past year. I found photographs of my vacation to Fort Lauderdale, and my comical New Hampshire mountain climb in July. I found receipts....carefully thought out gifts that I bought for people who are no longer in my life, and the gifts that in turn gave me. And the whole time, I was gradually realizing that it's been a year of healing, and growth, and regrowing, and living.

Now, I don't want to sound shallow. Remember, I do volunteer...but I also got to see where my shopping over the past year has gotten me. I held up many a dress or top on Saturday exclaiming "ooohh! I looooovvveee this." Part of the fun of cleaning is finding the things you forgot you had.

And speaking of finding the things I forgot I had, I guess I found evidence of the person I will ultimately be, and I was glad. Now I'm going to move her across the way!