And The Winner is........................TH!

For years now, TH has been attempting to have me go to a warmer climate for most of the winner, and every year I've dug my heels in and refused to go.  Why?  For many various reasons, but the two most important boil down to:
1) I'd miss TH like crazy
2) believe it or not, I'm a shy person in real life and slow to open up.  I'm fantastic with the superficial stuff, like with clerks and waitstaff.  But put me in a social situation, and I'm at a loss, sigh.

But after years of quiet wrangling back and forth, never a fight, never a cross word, just that defeated look in TH's eyes when I again refuse to go, and again fall ill due to the cold and dark, I finally gave in.  This September when I hied off to Atlanta to visit Steve and his hubby and go to the concert, I couldnt believe how good I felt.  No painful joints, loads of energy, and my allergies were much improved, and then it hit me I am stone dead tired of being ill all the damned time.  I love and adore Alaska, but it seems the love is rather one sided as the climate here isnt all that good for me.

So, January 3rd will find me on a plane to Arizona.  TH is driving my wee car down for me, and then flying home after a few days visit.  And then it will just be me, alone.........for the first time in my life.  I went from home (not that my homelife was all that good, but I knew my place in that world), to college, and then to TH and later the boys. 

Knowing that unless I make a huge giant effort, I'll spend the 4 months alone, I've come up with what I hope is a workable plan.   It's a mix of taking some classes and hopefully some volunteer work.  I've found a place that rescues homeless teens, some of them are street kids while others are removed from their families by the courts.  They ofer the older teens classes in life skills, and that is something I would be good teaching.  Even better?  They serve LGBT teens, which is something that is vastly underserved as you know.

As for classes?  Well.................I'm a rabid knitter, yeah.  My grandmother taught me to knit.  Early on she discovered the trick to shut me up was to fully engage my brain.  My poor grandmother, I know that I drove that poor woman to distraction. After grandmother passed away angel uncle took over teaching me knitting.  If I dont have something on a set of needles, I feel restless and at loose ends.  Its what I do while tv watching.  If I just watch tv without doing something else, I become like a caged lion and pace, and get jittery.  Yeah, me and tv not the best of combos.  Lately my passion for knitting is for socks.  I dont go in for the fancy stitched socks, but just brightly colored socks.  These all were knitted these last six months.

But in the world of knitting there is loads of stuff I dont know how to do, or an easier method to do something, so knit classes here I come!  Ya know how it is, sitting with people all engrossed in the same pursuit, tis mega easy to chat, and if nothing comes out of meeting these knitters, at least its time not spent alone, so that's to the good.  Maybe I'll take a language course, a wire jewelry class, maybe a tai chi class, which is something that has interested me, but never had a chance to take, who knows the sky is the limit, yeah? 

And if you are curious as to if I'll still be blogging during this time?  Hellz yeah!