Disoriented

With a distance move comes a period of disorientation, where you are cognizant of your surroundings but on a more subconscious level, your brain and your body are adjusting -- or attempting to -- in ways you cannot see or feel.  


I've gone from a place where the heat begins early to a place where I'm in sweat pants and a sweatshirt at 9 am because it's still cold outside.  It happens again every evening;  as soon as the sun goes down it gets chilly.  Far different from Hanford, where the temperatures can easily register 90 degrees at bedtime. I've gone from living at an elevation of about 100 feet above sea level to about 1,300 feet.  Surely my body recognizes this on some level and is making adjustments.


Then there's the chaos factor.  There is chaos in maneuvering around a new house.  Several times I've gone into the bedroom and turned left to go into the closet (where it was in our old house) only to find myself walking into a wall.  Our house is something of an obstacle course right now, what with all the boxes, the stuffed garage, and the various things laying about in different places than they were at our last home.  


It's going to take awhile to get used to, and may be the reason I've found myself more accident prone this week.  I've sliced open my thumb (with a sharp pair of scissors while attempting to break down a moving box) and slashed my arm (moving donatables to Goodwill) and surely it is no wonder that, if left to my own devices, I will happily sleep 11 hours.  I'm tired.  This move has been a long and drawn out process and, simply said, I'm not as young as I used to be.  


It's stress, pure and simple.  Even the place you most longed to be requires an adjustment period, as your body, brain and spirit settle in.  Maybe what the American Indians believe is true is actually right -- that when you travel any distance it takes awhile for your spirit to catch up to the rest of you.  I think I'm going to just stop for a few days and wait.  Those boxes don't really need unpacking today.  It's been a long journey to where we are now, and perhaps that needs to be respected and honored with some stillness and thought.