Moving to Reading

After a tearful week of saying goodbye to friends, I reluctantly left for Reading Friday morning. I wanted to put on a happy face and think about all the possibilities, but I couldn’t muster the energy. Instead, I mostly found ways to complain all the way to Pennsylvania: the traffic was bad, we should have left earlier; it was too cold in the car; the cat won’t stop crying; I hate (fill in the blank). Needless to say, I made an excellent traveling companion.

Happily, though, things turned around when I saw the neon glow of the hotel sign. At reception, I impatiently waited behind three older women looking for a cheap hotel deal (there weren’t any because of a Jehovah Witness convention in town), and I almost cheered when Matthew, the front-desk guy, handed me the room keys. We grabbed the cats, all of their accoutrements, and headed up to the room—which is fabulous! The room is spacious, clean, and comfy. There are TWO televisions (one in the bedroom and one in the living room) with HBO! W00t!

The cats couldn’t stop themselves from sniffing and rubbing on every inch of the room. I’m sure they found nooks and crannies no one else has ever discovered. Finally, they settled down to eat some dinner, but quickly lost interest in their food in favor of chasing each other around the two rooms.

The rest of the evening was uneventful: unloaded the car, set up my shoe rack, unpacked the bags, and went to bed. Apparently the cats drove P. Hubby crazy, but I had no trouble sleeping and ignoring them!

The next day, we were up early to meet with the realtor. It’s hard to figure out the right location to live as P. Hubby and I have jobs over an hour apart. We spent most of the day driving around with the agent, trying to explain our needs/wants. It was rather exhausting and sobering to realize that I will probably have an hour commute from wherever we live.

Today, we walked to the main strip in West Reading and ate crepes and shopped at the Farmer’s Market. It was lovely to spend the day relaxing with my husband and enjoying the warm air. It made me think this move is all going to work out just fine.