WTF B’More? or Oy, the Minutiae!

While there is a lot to love about Baltimore and we have no doubt that we made the right decision by moving here, it’s been a rocky road to settling in and we are bogged down by minutiae – Lori is convinced that Maryland has it in for her and I can’t really disagree. First there was Lori losing her SSI. Then she had to wait all summer to hear back from the NY Dept of Motor Vehicles so she could finally get a Maryland driver’s license. She tried again a few weeks ago but was turned back because the (not-revealed-to-her) deadline had passed for her to “start where she left off” in April and she didn’t have her Social Security card with her. So until she has the energy to make yet another trip to the Maryland MVA, she is still using her California license. Then came the dental horror. Lori found a dentist that it walking distance from our apartment. She was told she needed a “simple root canal.” One trip to the ER after half of her face swelled up to 4x its size, and 9 out of 11 dental appointments later, she is still without a crown (allegedly will be put in during one of the two remaining dental appointments in January).

We made a few treks to get winter clothes and coats and Lori still needs boots and sweaters. We also need to get one of those thingies with the brush on one end and a scraper on the other. It’s amazing the amount of things you need to buy to deal with Winter, a season we’ve not had to  really deal with for half our lives. Last week we took the car in to be “Winterized.” And discovered that we needed new brakes . Yesterday we got a parking ticket because, unbeknownst to us, our area parking permit had expired. I could have sworn we were supposed to be notified. “Luckily” I had left work early because I wasn’t feeling well so we had time to get to the parking office in time to get a new sticker. It really seems to be one thing after another.

One of the worst things has been that our house in Oakland got broken into. My sister and her partner have been living there and fortunately there weren’t too many things taken. But the house was turned upside down and my sister did lose a number of things of sentimental value that were very dear to her. Not to mention having that feeling of being unsafe. Despite new security doors added, it’s going to take some time for that unsettled feeling to ease up. We miss Lorena & Tess very much.

Despite our pity party, and missing people and places in California and the West coast, we are glad to be here. Nikkyo and Buster have settled in and seem content. We’re very much enjoying friends old and new, the beautiful Fall-colored trees on our street and around the area and appreciating the things we have.

But we could do with far less minutiae – ya hear me, Baltimore?