Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

The last week has been non-stop rain. I'm sure it'll get exhausting, but as of right now, it's just a nuisance and interesting to watch.

The rain is combined with rain in excess of 40 mph, and up to 60 by the shore. The water is usually falling at a 45 degree angle...it's so intense. I've never seen anything like it. No one here uses umbrellas, because they'll just get blown inside out and, really, how do you protect your ribs from water?

At night, I wake up to a slight sway. Instinctively, I think that it's an earthquake (previously living so close to the San Andreas fault and all). Then, I realize it's the wind pushing my old church side to side. Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea, house of mine. And please don't crumble around me.

I started going to the gym again this week. I'm pretty happy with my fitness level; I'm not as atrophied as I thought I'd be after a year of no concentrated training. A side perk is that there's a Biggest Loser competition at work that I'd love to win, but just losing these last 20 lbs would be a monumental success for me. It's going to span three months, so hopefully I'll be able to gain the speed and get it done.

I'm exhausted today. I barely slept last night; one of my best friend's, Jessica, who's pregnant with my goddaughter in Phoenix, was t-boned at an intersection last night when someone decided to not notice the red light. Her and Evey are okay, thank God, but it induced contractions and they had to rush her to an OB Trauma hospital downtown to make sure she was okay. I was so freaked and stressed, and still am. It's glaringly staring me in the face that I went from being 4 hours away to 16 hours away, and I'm so scared that I won't be able to be there for the birth or to support her before she has to undergo whatever comes.

I'm emotionally exhausted and physically drained. I'm going to watch a movie and sleep.

We'll catch up again soon. If I'm not flooded out of my house.

So this is life change.

I've been caught up in the minutae of my everyday life, and I'm not gonna lie: It's pretty blissful.

I moved out on my own at the beginning of the New Year. Talk about a fresh start. A gorgeous studio apartment above a church built in 1892 with . . . nothing in it. Luckily, this is a small town and I work with amazingly wonderful people who contributed to the "Let's Not Make Erin Live Like A BUM" project, and have furnished my apartment. My loveseat, coffee table, chairs, sewing table, my bed: all have been generously gifted to me and I'm looking forward to writing thank you notes this weekend.

After house-sitting for my Director for a week (who is an amazing woman and boss), I was ready to sleep in my own bed. They came and visited my place the morning after they came back and oh-so-elusively told me to come by later to pick up a gift. Por qua? So off I go, thinking it's a cool keychain or the like, but no. They outclass me by a mile.

It's a ukelele. A legit, for realsies, real-wood-this-ain't-the-plastic-one-in-sushi-bars tenor ukelele. To say I basically died is an understatement. I still can't get over my excitement. I practice my chords a little every night and can't wait till I'm good enough to strum a little tune to my godchildren. All three of them. That's right, THREE!

Jessica is due for her second daughter, and I got to name her! I suggested Charlotte and they agreed. I get a baby Charlie for St. Patty's Day! Woot. And Kathleen, my dear sweet world-traveling love, is due for her first. We don't know if it's a girl or boy yet, but she's due in July, and man oh man am I thrilled.

I get to work in place of rent. It's shaping up to be harder than I anticipated it would be, but I think it's because I'm not in the groove yet. Once I get there, I figure it'll be a dance just like everything else.

My hospital job is fantastic. I still marvel sometimes that I had the guts to uproot my entire life for a per diem job in the middle of nowhere, but I'll tell you what: BEST LIFE DECISION I COULD'VE MADE. I work with wonderful, REAL people doing a job that actually means something. It's a marvelous life, my friends, my loves. And I'm perpetually happy I've chosen it.

I just need to write more. That's where I'm epically failing. But that's life, I've learned. You always something to improve upon.

It's late. I just wanted to update you. The sum of the story is:

I am happy.