I have not abandoned this place
It's just, well, been kind of a challenge since getting to the Edge of America. I haven't seen my children since Oct. 11, and won't see them for another nine days. I underestimated how incredibly difficult that would be for me -- and I knew it was going to be difficult. The Wife did join me this weekend for "househunting," a company-paid trip to find a place to live. They don't need to know that we had already found such a place and basically just spent a day at the beach.

But it's been kind of a challenge since coming here.

The job: As regular readers of this invective know, my job at the Very Large Metropolitan Newspaper in Texas had become, well, somewhat boring. As crazy as it sounds, I wanted a job in which I would actually be busy. I got that, and then some. I used to be completely unfazed by hard work. The Very Large Metropolitan Newspaper apparently made me soft. The last few weeks have been spent doing some serious stamina-building. I'll get the first real test tonight: Election Night in Florida. On the last Election Night in Florida, staffers were at the office until well past sunrise. Tonight will be interesting.

Real estate: The house in Texas is sold. The house in Florida is bought (well, basically.) The Family makes its way east next week. I'll be flying back to Texas, landing, and taking the wheel of the minivan and pointing it to the sea. Said minivan will be occupied by The Wife and Me, three children, two dogs and a cat. Hopefully I'll be done with my stamina-building by then.

Homelessness: In the meantime, I'm staying with friends in a guest room. No matter how comfortable I am with people, I'm never comfortable spending large amounts of time in other people's houses, using their stuff (I'm using their computer, in fact, as I write this) and eating their food -- even if it's generously offered, and it has been.

This is what I signed up for -- a complete shake-up of my daily routine. I'm not entirely sure what led me to do it. And, even though I know it was the right thing to do, I'm pretty sure I don't want to do it again anytime soon.