This morning something magical happened; we saw Kevin the Bunny in our driveway, or at least we saw some bunny. Kevin was a rabbit that sat in our driveway at the old house almost every day when we came home from work. At first we just commented, “Oh look, there’s a bunny in the trees!”. Then we saw him frequently and J decided to call him Kevin. Kevin has probably been around for 9 months, with sightings occurring often, and always in the driveway. When we moved, we both knew we’d miss seeing Kevin, and J threatened to trap him and take him with us.

But just like we knew GaterBait followed us to the new house when J lost his keys, Kevin has found his way to us as well. We spotted him running across the driveway this morning, looking a little disoriented, darting back and forth to get away from the car. J and I both yelled “KEVIN!” (I mostly yelled so J wouldn’t hit him.)

My fascination with yard pets definitely starts with a groundhog in college. While living in a rental house with 4 other girls we started spotting this animal in the back yard in the mornings. We’d only see it’s head poking out from under our garage, and not very often. It was exciting when you got to see him while you were eating your morning breakfast. Soon, probably due to a focus on him, we started spotting him more often, and he therefore needed a name. The rickety white shed that he was living under had spray paint on it… Doug.

The day Doug came all that way out of his hole and was seen in full form running across the yard a roommate came screaming and running up the stairs “I SAW DOUG OUTSIDE OF THE HOLE!”. It became a game to lure him out of the hole with possible treats; nuts, trail mix, raisins, fruits, anything we though a groundhog might eat. People told us that Doug was a nuisance and we should get rid of him, but it was a rental house and we didn’t care. Leaving Doug for a new apartment was hard, but I guess he was then replaced by Kevin the Bunny and Snorkel the calico kitty. I’ll just have to see what Kevin the Bunny is replaced by when he gets hit on the road since he’s disoriented from his trip over to the new house.

I am my mother’s daughter. I know this not because we share curly hair or are both short, but because the day after she left me in Alabama to go back home we both sent each other the same text.

“I’m moving to you.”

I’m moving to wherever I can be close to you, because I miss you. I feel alone now that you are gone. I hate that I won’t get to see you for a long time. I cried when you had to leave. I breathed in the clothes you brought me because they smelled like you and home. I physically ache because you are gone.

I am now counting down the days until I can see you again.

Today I am 25.

I think I’m now allowed to have my quarter life crisis, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been having dilemmas and catastrophes on and off my whole life and therefore should keep myself together. Plus, who can have a crisis when there’s beautiful fall weather outside? I love, love, love fall weather. And fall in the south is wonderful. As long as my birthday continues to be in October, I won’t have an age crisis.

I spent much of this weekend hiding in the closet… but since our new house has a huge master bedroom closet, it was a wonderful place to hang out! Along with laying flooring in the actual bedroom, J also put new hardwood in the closet. The fresh paint and new floor did wonders for the smell the previous owners left us. It looks good enough to live in, or at least good enough for all my favorite belongings (shoes) to live in. Within an hour I had moved all of my clothes into the closet and hung them up on our custom racks J made just for me. I love that they expand all the way across the room. I think we utilized the space well. During that same hour of my moving boxes and bags and piles of clothes, J very proudly added a pair of pants to his side, claiming his area.

My side vs his side

I am starting to feel extremely proud- J and I have painted a lot of rooms in our big house, and now laid new (Grade 1, how fancy are we?!) hardwood floors. Things are slowly starting to come into place. I allowed myself to unwrap one box marked “fragile”, while I knew had decorations and flower vases in it, to set up around the house. Just those few items made it look so nice!