Stepping into the Unknown, Back Then.

Lots of students are returning to my small college town- this blog post is brought to you by seeing the large size moving vans around town, remembering how I came to this town.

When I moved to Bloomington, Indiana in 1994(?) I didn’t know I was moving to Bloomington. A friend and I arrived here to check it, hearing it was the Berkeley of the Midwest, with a few days clothing. Then her car broke down. I said to her, “if we find jobs today I’ll take that as a sign to stay.”

We did. And we did.

We found a house to rent over on 12th St. for $500. That was a lot of money but we trusted it would work out. And it did.

It wasn’t furnished but we quickly met a few people here and there and before we knew it our house was filled with items that departing students had left on the curbside: mattresses, tables, chairs, kitchen utensils, a couch and a desks.

I found a second job a week later at the local homeless shelter (my first was at a Chinese Restaurant), and found out how to get government sponsored food so the food situation was covered.

We had a few days clothing we had a few days clothing but found the Salvation Army, which was walking distance from our place.

I took a Greyhound back to Toledo, Ohio where my parents  (and stuff) were living and returned to Bloomington a few days later with two giant duffle bags. My mother was not pleased, as I’d just arrived back in the states after being gone for a year teaching English in Greece.

I have many stories from those first few days (including a massive kundalini heart opening that spontaneously happened in the woods) which confirmed that I was indeed supposed to land here.

I didn’t know how long I’d stay. And of course I had no idea what my life would evolve into, from those first few days and weeks.

Sometimes a whole lot of something can be created from what seems like nothing.

I am immensely grateful.