Day: 30
High Temp: 78F!!!
Job Status: Unemployed

I returned to Austin on Saturday night, after spending a week in St. Louis to mourn the passing, and celebrate the life of my grandmother. She has been battling cancer for many years now, with good results, however, when we got news that the cancer had spread to her liver in the past year, she began to prepare for the inevitable end of her fight. She was ready to go, and was at peace with what was to come. For my part, I am happy to say that Tom and I had a chance to see her twice this summer, once over the 4th of July weekend, and once in mid-August when we were in the midst of our move to Austin. We knew the end was near when we saw her a few weeks ago, and are both very happy to have had a chance to say goodbye while she was still feeling good.

Nothing is real about my life in Austin yet, so to say returning here was getting back to normal is just not true. I dont yet have a job, and spend my days while Tom is at school and work looking for and applying to jobs, and playing with my puppy. Being in St. Louis was so nice, as I had family around, and had a chance to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was nice to be there for my mom, and help her sort out some of the legal papers too (my mom and I are the executors on my grandmother's estate).

Getting back here isrough. There isn't too much to focus on, except when the puppy had last gone out for a potty break. Being back in Austin made me realize that I am not quickly settling in here, and that while I really do like this city, there is still a long time ahead of me before Austin will feel like home. Indeed, it was really sad to realize that flying home from St. Louis meant flying to Austin, not Chicago.

But, there are two more jobs posted today that I want to apply for, so I will focus on that for today, and a little bit of work I have promised TimeLine still needs to be done too. And I promise to update the blog more often now that I am back in Austin. After all, what else is there to do?