The blogging has gotten a bit slower as of late, but I'd like to think that's because things are humming along in my personal life.
When I moved to Indy in back in 2000, I was a not-so-fresh from college graduate (it took me six months to find work) with few aspirations and a cigarette addiction. Gina (my girlfriend of four years at that point) was a high school graduate with a few college courses under her belt and no real future plans.
Since then: Gina found a job, my dad was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, I went to Japan, Gina's mother had a stroke, Gina lost her job when she went to care for her mother, Gina started at the University of Indianapolis, my dad died from multiple myeloma, I bought a house, Gina and I both quit smoking, I went back to Japan, the Cardinals lost a world series, and finally...
Gina finished school.
If you're counting, we've been dating 10 or 11 years. And while it hasn't always been perfect, I'm not going to pretend like it's been tough (like people like to say a long marriage is). We've always tried to keep in mind (even when we were bored with everything) that eventually we'd both be making money, and then, finally, we could do whatever we wanted.
Well, Gina is interning with a newspaper (one you've probably heard of) right now, and she's interviewing a bit, so I'd say we're 95% there. Things have been going so swimmingly lately that I'm starting to wonder if I deserve any of it, and I'm waiting for the roof to fall in.
But I feel like I've got most things figured out. I don't need to make a lot of money; it's not going to make me any happier. I know I want to move out of my boring CP Morgan neighborhood to somewhere a bit more diverse (and perhaps even more dilapidated). I want to have somewhere to walk to. I want to know my neighbors well. I want Gina to enjoy her job environment as much as I enjoy mine.
I want to sell my stupid truck.
I want someone to suggest a nice diverse neighborhood with small (no bigger than 1500 square feet) homes in the $100-150s.
It's all right over the next hill. Jinx.
9 comments:
Mike, my dad died from multiple myeloma too.
was he a vietnam vet?
No, he was of that age, but he was not a veteran. Are there studies to show a correlation?
there's some (arguable) evidence for a link between exposure to agent orange and multiple myeloma.
here's a link.
if anything, i guess it's nice to have someone to blame. my dad never blamed anyone, though, at least not in front of me.
Mike, I don't know if the houses ate still going at the same rate, but a few years back my girlfriend at the time got a house in Fountain Square for between 100-110. I believe she worked through SEND to get the place.
Fountain Square isn't for everyone, but the few people I know who have bought houses through SEND all seem more than pleased.
Good Luck.
Thanks for the heads up, Scot. I wasn't aware of SEND. It's nice to see that someone has a plan in place for the Fountain Square area.
Mike, thanks for the information. It's strange that one of our family's closest friends also died of multiple myeloma around a year after my dad did. He lived 3 blocks away. I always thought it was a rare disease.
it is pretty rare; i saw a stat when i was looking for that agent orange stuff...
as of 2003:
Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer and strikes more than 14,000 Americans each year. Close to 11,000 will die from the disease.
There you go.
I had never heard of it before my dad got it, but i guess it's just like how you notice how many cars there are like yours until you buy one.
My dad was diagnosed in 1982 and died in 2004. He survived longer than most.
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