I have started school, and the weather has begun to grow cooler. The feeling of fall is in the air. My thoughts of this upcoming season were, a few weeks ago, ones of fear and hesitation. However, I have had two weeks of school, and am finding that I really enjoy it. My fear of letting go of the summer season, and everything that it entailed, was seemingly felt in vain. I have had moments of panic, however, for the most part this all feels so right. I was thinking about it earlier today (as I was supposed to be studying intro to chemistry for Biology) about how I don't know if I've ever felt so sure, or so right in all my life. It seems that with every week I grow more and more confident in my decision to continue pursuing midwifery. Today as I was sitting there studying I remembered that at the end of all of this I will get to deliver babies again, and the thought of that was almost too much for me to bare. The pain I have associated with midwifery for the past year has either begun to fade, or I am forgetting. At this point, I want nothing more than to be a midwife, and that is an outrageous thing for me to say, considering my negative outlook on the subject for the past 14 months.
I love Philadelphia. It's crazy, and loud, and run-down, but really, at the end of the day I do love it here. I think I'd prefer spend my time in a more "beautiful" and "peaceful" environment, say in the woods, or mountains some place, but Philadelphia for some reason seems to fill me despite her lack of "beauty" and "peace". I feel at home here. I've been here for nine months now, longer than I've lived any one place since 2004. When I make it to a year here it will be the longest I've lived anywhere since 2oo2. I needed a place to "settle down", and "settle down" I've done.

I'm taking three classes this semester. English, Intermediate Algebra, and Anatomy and Physiology. I love all three. Anatomy and Physiology I have enjoyed for obvious reasons; Algebra's enjoyment came as quite a shock, but it's the homework I get most excited about doing; and in English we are studying George Orwell all semester who grew up in India, which makes me feel like I have a little secret friendship with him. My first essay is to be written about an essay he wrote on Gandhi. I feel as though all of my classes fulfill tiny little pieces of me in such unexpected ways.

My mom and step-dad came out for a visit a few weeks ago. It was really nice to show them a glimpse of the life I've made here. They met Matt and loved him, as I knew they would. The very same week Jen, Matt's sister, came for a visit as well. It was so funny to have pieces of both our families here at the same time. I had a wonderful week with both my family, and with Jen. At one point as we were showing my mom and Dave the view of the city from the Art Museum steps I was overwhelmed by how happy I was to live here.
The thrift store I've been working at bought a buiding two blocks north of the one we were in and we've spent the last two weeks moving. With the move, and the start of school I was more busy than I've been in a very long time. To be honest, I enjoyed it. A small forshadowing of my next 8 years. Labour day was the big day, wherein close to 100 people, if not more, came out and helped move the store down 2 blocks. We had a massive "human chain" and moved most of it by hand. It was so amazing to see the community come together and accomplish something I was thinking could never be accomlished. Despite sore muscles and wanting to die of heat I really enjoyed the packing/moving/ and unpacking. I have such wonderful friends here that seem to make most situations enjoyable. The new space is really nice, give or take a leaky roof and a few sneaky customers.
Matt and I are both plugging away at school. Matt is working towards finishing his Bachlors in Philosophy, I towards my prerequisits for nursing, then onto midwifery. We are adjusting to the new schedules and demands of school and work, but I've found that everything has fallen together nicely. We are getting ready to make a trip out to Oregon, and California to visit our families, in mid-October. Matt is orignially from Oregon, which is wonderful, as I've wanted to go back ever since I went in 2002. It should be a really nice trip, and if you live in either place, please get in touch with me about getting together. It will be a whirlwind trip, two states, two families, and heaps of friends in one week, but we'll try to make it all happen.
*Circle Thrift moving pictures taken by Carina Romano. Woot. Woot.