I’m sitting outside Olin Hall, on the Union campus. It’s a pleasant morning; I actually have a sweater on. It’s maybe 65 degrees, although the high is threatening to hit 85. I’ll be inside and air conditioned for most of it. I’m feeling pretty today, too – very light makeup, my hair pulled up in a twist with tendrails escaping and curling around my face. I’m meeting an expert on the case I present Friday, this afternoon, so looking nice can’t help. Besides, it’s always good to feel good on a Monday morning.
I’m surprisingly chipper for having been up since 5am, although I’m certain the ginormic latte from Starbucks is helping; it is only helping, though, since I was chipper before. We’ll see how I feel around lunch; I suspect flagging exhaustion is in my near future. I didn’t get to sleep until much later than I wanted; I’m afraid the Lunesta is no longer working. I’m not sure if this means going back to either rozarem, or the ambien/trazadone mix, or trying yet another something. I wish I knew the doc’s at AMC better, I’d just ask them to prescribe me something (and refill that pesky vicodin prescription while they were at it).
It really is beautiful here. The campus is greener than UW, with hidden pockets of garden and seats scattered everywhere around the large central lawn and Nott Memorial. Union was apparently the first planned university in the States, and it shows in its design and function. It really is lovely.
The large amount of green encourages wildlife. The squirrels here aren’t as scarily bold as the UW squirrels, but maybe that will change when food isn’t so abundant. In addition to them, and the near-ubiquitous sparrows, chickadees and flocking songbirds, is a population of small, wild bunnies. They’re small rabbits, not the large jackrabbits of the southwest. I don’t know if it’s a domestic rabbit population gone feral, like we had in Seattle, or if this is just natural around here, but they are here. I see them in the brush, or stretched out on the lawn on a quiet afternoon, basking in the shade. Friday, while I was stretched on the lawn doing similar, one came within about 3 feet, stretching out sideways and actually falling asleep – it snored! Of course, the minute I moved, it was off, and that was that. Still, they make me smile. Another bunny park.
I’m not nearly as homesick as I expected to be. Part of that must be because I saw so many of my friends so rarely, to begin with, and I continue to talk to people via this lovely device known as the computer and the internet. In fact, to be honest, this past weekend I spent as alone as I could, just recovering from being around so many people for so long the last week. I am, I admit, homesick for CHID and UW and Phillip, and everyone in the office. Sometimes, when I lay back just right on the couch, and close my eyes, I can hear everyone talking about laughing, voices echoing in mind.
I’ve been assured I’ll be integrated here, and start to make friends with the same interests as my own. I trust, at a surprisingly deep and visceral level, the person who told me that, so for now I rest with patience and I wait.