Life's about to get weird

[resonant]

A week from tomorrow, the spouse is going back to school! Which is very exciting -- new career, new direction, getting the hell out of Greater Cornville, etc. -- except that in order to allow the kidlet to finish out their last year at The Perfect Middle School, we're going to spend a school year in a long-distance marriage.

The thing I'm most afraid of? Seriously, I'm really worried that I'm going to get into the habit of not consulting the convenience of any adult except myself, and I'm going to like it so much that I won't want to give it up!

I also find that I suddenly have worries about personal safety. The spouse doesn't really do anything to increase our personal safety -- well, I mean, he checks whether the doors are locked at night and stuff, but it's not as if he has ever had to scare off an intruder or anything. But apparently the unconscious part of my brain figured that having a male in the house meant it didn't have to worry about safety ever, and now it's all, "Cell phone in your room! Curtains closed at all times!"

If anybody has contacts in Dubuque, Iowa, please e-mail or message me; next summer I'm going to need to have a job there.

P.S. If you ever find yourself zombie-clicking late into the night and unable to pull yourself away from the keyboard and just go to bed already, this Google Images search for 'yawning kittens' may be useful.

edited 2020 to retroactively correct the kidlet's gender pronouns

Comments

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

You don't want any of my contacts to know you know me, & it's been a few years, but the managers at the kohls back then did actually stand up for their employees against customers when necessary. Again, though, the hills are a Bitch to drive in winter. Look for something nearby.

[resonant]

I don't think anybody in retail would want me, anyway, though Kohl's might have something in the office or something. (Funny you should mention that; I was reading Not Always Right in the other window and being grateful I wasn't doing customer service!)

I used to live in the Blue Ridge, so I know a little about winter mountain driving, but of course the winters were a lot shorter there!

[sage]

There is something to the adage about safety in numbers, as well as to the assumption (false or not) that a man will aggressively defend his territory where a woman would be more cautious or persuadable. I mean, we get socialized to think this way, so the increase in personal vigilance makes sense.

If it might make you feel better, you could attach a motion detector to your outdoor lights (driveway or porch), so anyone creeping around at night would set them off. Of course, things like raccoons and neighborhood cats might set them off, too, but it might be worth the peace of mind. (This is also a handy trick for keeping teenagers from sneaking out, at least if one of the lights is right under the parents' window.)

Every time I read your kitten link text, I yawn. This has potential! *g*

[sara]

Is Dubuque...Lesser Cornville?

[kass]

My spouse has a job 3h away, and travels a fair bit, so we tend to be apart minimum half of the time, often more like 2/3 of the time, during the school year. This will be our second year of doing that, and it is...complicated and imperfect? but I have come to find some upsides in it. (Mostly it means that when he's away, I watch all the tv he doesn't like. :-)

[norah]

Eeee, Dubuque! The family farm is in Galena - maybe we could visit you more if you are there? Sadly, I don't know of jobs - but that's awesome.

[isis]

Heh, my husband spent much of last winter in another state, and it was difficult to adjust to having him around again, for sure. Downside: cannot do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. Upside: Somebody else does the dishes, kills the spiders, and gives me orgasms. Close call, but I think I like having him around.

[goseaward]

I don't know any business contacts in Dubuque but a good friend of mine is from there--if you had general questions I could pass your info along...