A couple weeks ago I moved back to Austin from Houston. This had always been a possibility from the day I moved to Houston. While I met many people I love there, the city itself never felt like home to me. For a lot of reasons, the move to Austin made sense.
In some ways, it’s been a difficult re-entry. My partner, Trouble, plans to live with me here but has actually been stuck in Houston on family business and may be there for some time until it’s resolved. Two of the friends I was most looking forward to reconnecting with have turned out to no longer be interested in spending time with me. Others are eager to reconnect with me but have busy lives raising chickens, working new jobs, or starting homesteads on the outskirts of town. For the first few weeks I’ve been here I’ve felt more isolated and lost than I ever expected to in my ‘home.’
I feel like that’s starting to change though — I’ve been back to Burning Flipside‘s ‘Church Night’ and attended a couple of the Poly Dinner socials. People are beginning to realize I’m back in Austin, and the invites are pouring in on Facebook. The weather has been gorgeous and with a much lower humidity than it seems like I ever experienced in Houston. It’s been great to finally get back on my beloved bicycle, Neptune, and really ride somewhere useful. Although Houston has bike trails and green belts for riding, I rarely felt as comfortable riding there due to differences in urban culture and greatly increased distances.
Maybe most importantly (for me and many readers of this blog) I am finally beginning to get back in touch with my creative side. I had a major brainstorming breakthrough in the ‘secret project’ collaboration I have hinted at here before. I think I have finally figured out what’s been blocking me in my novel-in-progress, Honeycutt Tales and I had a promising (and delightfully flirtatious) conversation with my coauthor, Kiki. I have a few short stories bubbling around in the process of taking shape on the page, too. I’ll tell you more about all of these when I have news I can share.
It’s good to be home!
