I've had some good talks with my parents over the past two days which resulted in my mom calling my grandma to pitch the idea of my living with her and my grandpa at some point in the near future. my grandma told my mom it would be absolutely fine and was even excited about the prospect. my grandpa will be returning home from the nursing facility next Friday (Valentine's Day, very sweet), which means there will be a full-time nurse on duty at their house. the environment would be vastly different from what it's been the past two times I lived with them temporarily, but I know my grandma will like having another familiar body in the house.

so now I'm thinking that the move might happen this summer, as opposed to next summer. it's best if I just start trying to get my shit together as soon as possible, really, and that way I can maximize my time by both applying for school and earning money towards it at the same time. and that way I might be able to avoid deferring admission for a year. it should be relatively simple finding a job down there, what with all my experience. also, I have my cousins there to keep their eyes open for me.

what this means is I have to have a serious talk with April regarding my moving out in (potentially) five to seven months. it's gonna be like a break-up of sorts. I mean, we bought nearly all the shared furniture in the apartment together, so either she or whoever moves in after me will owe me a substantial amount of money. also, I'll have to work out getting back my half of the security deposit for the apartment. it's not going to be easy at all. in fact, it's probably going to be really messy. but hopefully since Megan is graduating and will need a place to live, she can take over for me semi-seamlessly.

I think the trickiest part of all will be the timing of this move. I want to stick around until at least June so I can say goodbye to the group of people I've been working for over the past 2 1/2 years (none of them live in Chicago and will be here in June for a big meeting). I kind of want to have a secure job in July, when I'd like to go home to PA for this big annual festival that brings people in from all over--if I move before then, it's doubtful I could take a vacation from a new job so soon. my apartment lease is up September 1, but I don't know if I want to wait that long to go down to Cincinnati. our upstairs neighbors may be vacating their apartment May 1 and April and I were thinking we could benefit by moving one floor away from the noise. this would mean I might have to pack all my stuff, move up one floor, and then pack it all up again 2-3 months later.

even so, I'm glad I finally realized/admitted that what I'm doing now is getting me nowhere. I said to Stacey yesterday that I haven't accomplished any of my goals living in Chicago and when I really think about it, that's positively true. the only thing I have accomplished is living irresponsibly (which has been fun, for sure) and backing myself into a corner of owed money. still, this doesn't mean that when I do move it's going to be easy. but it'll be ok.