Re-localization

So last fall, hubby & I joined a local "relocalization" group. Unfortunately, our tiny little anti-social town didn't have a group of interested people that we knew of, so we joined the neighboring town's group. From which I have learned a ridiculous amount of information regarding gardening & food production.

And you know what? I no longer have serious long bouts of escapism fantasies. I'm actually happy to be living HERE. To the point where we are considering buying land to build THE house for ever and ever after. Passive solar at the very least. As housing prices drop, shouldn't land prices too?

At any rate, it has just occurred to me that as I have gained interest in re-localizing, I have been feeling more and more guilty about my ridiculous commute. And so after this week, I will largely be done with the whole 45-mile each way commute. This is also a bid to cut myself off from the steady feed of toxic chemicals absorbed through my skin & respiratory system despite the best of OSHA intentions. Accidents happen. Daily. Thankfully the stuff I dealt with wasn't THAT toxic. But Still. Not worth the risk.

Had myself a little cancer scare this month. I'm not fully through investigating it, but so far all the radiology tests are looking very good and benign. Hooray! (Understatement). I still hope to talk my doctor into an MRI, just to be as safe as possible before I go and fully move on. For those of you not familiar, learn to spot the signs of IBC. Seriously.

This is after joining in the Super Tuesday fun of the worst tornado outbreak in 20 years while visiting TN for my grandmothers funeral. Proof: we were near beginning of the red line labelled "3-Muhlenburg" - after the wake we spent some quality time huddled under all the bed linens in the bathtub of our hotel room. This was about 1.5 hours after the wake, and about 12 hours before the funeral of my grandmother, at which we were pall bearers. It was a little overwhelming. There's nothing like watching the news in a hotel room as the weather guy is rolling of city and town names in a panic, and you have no idea where those places are in relation to you until you hear the tornado sirens going off outside.

So recent events have caused a drastic change in how I look at life & what I consider important, and when you combine that with the effort to re-localize, it looks like I'll be staying home for a while. I'll miss the social interaction, but I'll find some other outlet, I'm sure.