movin' on up

when david and i broke up in october, the house and car were in his name, while the majority of the vast bills just so happened to be in my name.  (one of many reasons i'm pretty much over men 4eva & eva amen, at this juncture.)  i had zero savings of my own, an extremely part-time job working at a bakery, and a toddler.  it was grim times, man, and winter was a-comin'.  so shoshanna and i moved in with my parents, and once i got a full-time job, i started driving my awesome grandma's buick to work.  (she is ninety, and around the time she started saying "why are all those people walking in the road?" regarding pedestrians on the sidewalk, we've been doing the driving for her.)  i think a lot about how different our lives would be today if we hadn't been able to lean on my parents so heavily during these days.  (answer: pretty shitty.)

anyway, it's been nine months since we've moved in with my parents, and it has been such a good experience for the two of us.  living with her "uma and chuck" was some major stability in sho's life when she really needed it, and in my own as well.  the money we've saved by not having to pay rent has been a lifesaver, especially since we still have yet to receive any support money from david since april (and even then, it was a whopping twenty bucks).  but, it's getting to be time for us to make our way in a place of our own.  my friend sara bought a house last year and has been doing major construction on it ever since, with a room (or two) set kindly aside for sho and me all the while, whenever we were ready to move in.  since my grandma will be moving back in with my parents soon (she rotates between living with my dad and his two sisters), i have been thinking more and more about this big move, just sho and i living this new life of ours together.  i'm really excited.

but i was worried about finding a car, and how exactly i was going to manage car payments and rent, utilities, and insurance with my tiny income.  then my friend dan the awesome photograph man called me out of the blue: "hey, do you want my car?"  seriously, who needs the lottery with peeps like mine?  and who would've guessed that the many parking tickets i helped him accumulate during the amazingly fun summer we spent going to the beach every day would contribute to his license being taken away, which would lead to this windfall of a car dropping right into my lap?  (i swear, i didn't plan it like that.)  so, we negotiated a wee monthly car payment plan ($$ + the book of my choice, ordered and sent to him in detroit (i also pay my phone bill this way, through my dear pal michael who works at a cell phone store - it's the sve book club special)), and he brought the car by on friday.  she's a beaut!

(dan, bidding his car a tearful adieu)

i kept saying, "sho, this is OUR car!  it's ours!"  it just really hit me what a team we are going to be out in the world, just the two of us.  my parents will still be a massive part of our lives (in a way it's really strange and nerve wracking to think about not living with them anymore), but it's still going to be so different when it's just shoshi and me vs. the big ol' world out there.

i pretty much couldn't have invented a better partner in crime if i'd set out specifically to do so in my mad scientist laboratory, not in a million years of trying.