Room 210 (Home)

This update is a little late, but that's because I spent 99% of yesterday with a dead phone.
Surprise, we made it! I am currently sitting in the mostly empty apartment, waiting for Joey to get here with breakfast.
Yesterday was long. That's all I have to say. No other words of description. We stopped at Wall Drug and Joey bought me an early birthday present. We encountered more rain, lots of bugs, and the card we were using for gas had a temporary hold on it because we were using it in so many states. There were long stretches of construction zones in which we could only go 55. And long stretches of regular freeway that were still 55. We got to Trinity at about midnight, slept on some friends' floors, and got up in time to sign the lease at 10.
It was a long day. The longest day. But now we are here, and my married life can officially begin.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

hermosa south dakota

Day 2 has been measured out with equal parts adventure and frustration. We accidentally bought premium gas. Joey almost broke the car by overusing/abusing the cruise control. He pulled over while I was napping and I kind of freaked out. Then in Wyoming we encounted some serious rain, soaking the front corners of the futon strapped on top of the car. On our way to the campsite we had some trouble with directions. And then when we got to the site, they had trouble with the credit card machine, only to realize they'd already charged us. At the end of the day we visited Mt. Rushmore, and not only had the "year pass" increased by a dollar, they only took cash. It all worked out, but it was weird and complicated.
Joey is currently setting up the tent. Tomorrow is going to be about a 16 hour drive, so it's sleepy time. Finally.

97 miles to Helena

Day 1 of our most ultimate trip is almost over. We didn't meet anyone interesting. We did stop at the Wild Horses Monument and the 50,000 Silver Dollar Casino/Gift Shop. (soon to be 100,000. or so I heard.) Two days left. We're already very tired. Tomorrow, Mount Rushmore.

turn it all around

As I look around me I find I am surrounded by a lifetime's belongings. Shoes, scarves, stuffed animals. A plethora of poems and notebooks, drawings and sketches. File boxes, text books, bank statements. A white dress. A long veil. A box of shells from a beach far away that holds more nostalgia than I can explain.

And most of the important things have already been loaded into the car, a green trunk full of canisters and my collection of coffee mugs. Suitcases of sundresses and faded jeans. A box of candles.

There is still so much I'm leaving behind, and while I know that I won't miss it, and I know there's no room left, I wish we could take it all. I wish I could hold on to every tangible memory, so that when I get old I won't have to try to remember. It will just be there, at my fingertips.

I've been waiting for this my whole life. Anxious to grow up, get out, to give myself to somebody else. And I met that point of adulthood gladly. But there's been this strange delay for the last 4 weeks. I never thought I'd be married, still sleeping in my old bedroom, surrounded by my childhood.

I really am saying goodbye this time. The car is almost packed. In the morning we'll make a pot of coffee, kiss my parents and the dog, fill the tank with gas and I will cry all the way to Chicago.

Next time, a nom de plume

Do you ever have one of those moments when you're finally about to carry out a large decision, and you come face to face with the realization that... it's not nearly as climactic as you anticipated?

I did. ALL WEEK. Sigh. Let me explain.

A few months ago: I received an e-mail from the records office, asking what name I wanted printed on my degree. So Joey and I discussed this over a week or so and finally concluded that I would add 'Foutz' to my middle name. (because it's far too perfect to give up completely.) So my degree will read "Katherine Megan Foutz Voss."

A few weeks ago: I got married. I did not change my name immediately.

Last week: I wanted to know if it was better to change the Social Security card or the license first. I had a "renew your license!" notice in the mail and thus made a whole bunch of phone calls...at night... which resulted in NO information whatsoever. I spent a lot of time listening to a computer tell me things I didn't need to know. I scoured the websites for direction but found none. Lost, confused, and ultimately very frustrated, I gave up and went to bed.

Also last week: I called the computer back and told it I wanted to talk to a person. I asked me several times if I was sure. Then, while being on hold, the computer reminded me every thirty seconds that "Talking to the computer is so much better" blah blah blah. And THEN when I called the DOL, I actually got message saying, "We're so busy, we can't even put you on hold."

Monday: Joey and I drove down to the Social Security Administration in Puyallup, had an awkward conversation with a security officer, had to wipe up drool on a counter from the previous client, and ended up not being able to do anything. We drove home. And instead of going to Seattle for the required certified copies of our marriage license, we bought groceries for the move to IL.

Tuesday: We drove all the way to Seattle, and bought two copies of the license for $6 total. After deciding we had time for nothing else (because government offices close at 4:30) we visited my brother and went home.

Wednesday: We drove back to Puyallup, to the original SSA office, and had an even longer and more awkward conversation with the security officer who apparently is a recovering alcoholic and used to collect bottle caps. We gave the nice man behind the plastic window the certified copy.... and he gave it back to us. He didn't ask for my I.D. So we still had two copies. And he gave me a receipt, showing I had changed my name, so I could prove it at the DOL.

So we went to the DOL where I originally got my license, and I was greeted by the nicest DOL associate I've ever encountered. She gave me a number. We sat in some strange chairs which Joey proceeded to break. (just kidding. they were just really noisy chairs.) And when they called me up, the woman behind the counter didn't ask for my social security card, or the receipt. She took the certificate, and gave it back. We still had two copies.

It took a long time to explain to her my intentions with my name--yes, I'm adding that to my middle name. No, don't hyphenate it. Yes, I know that will be part of my middle name. Yes, that's what I meant.

Long story short... I could have saved $3 and several conversations and a lot of gas. The important thing is that I'm now officially a Voss. (but forever and always a Foutz.)

What bwings us togevah today

I had been doubtful. I had stumbled. I took a long and strange journey and it gave me a plethora of problems and a new sense of "anxiety" that I thought I would never encounter.

But I finally got married.

And no one can really tell you how wonderful it is to wake up to a loving face every day. The telling is never quite accurate. You can't truly know how pure that moment is... until you're in that moment.

And I can't explain the joy I feel when I realize, over and over again, that I really DO get to spend the rest of my life with this person. It actually happened, it's really permanent, I sincerely belong to someone and he belongs to me. There is no going back. We're in this for the long haul.

Speaking of the long haul, we're going to start it next Sunday, the 17th, which also happens to be Joey's birthday. We've spent the last few weeks living with my parents, which sounds awkward, but it's actually been pretty nice. Joey is spending this week painting houses with my dad, and while he's home we're going to try to squeeze in a few last social calls and (of course) pack up everything. Oh joy.

It's strange to think that a week from now, we'll be on the road. I will have made the IL/WA trek THREE times in the last year. Once there, once back, and once there again. And this time I'm going to make the journey with someone who has never been on a road trip. BUT he does love to drive so I'm hoping it will be tolerable, if not enjoyable.

And that's my update. I have too much to do to say anything else. I'm off to donate all my worldly belongings to Goodwill.