Delaying My Metairie Visit

I'll finally see Metairie firsthand this weekend. I had hoped on leaving here on Friday, and taking Katie with me. The possibility exists that we'll kill each other en route, but we figured we'd risk it. Katie says she wants to come, and Joel finally decided that if Katie were his patient, he'd certainly encourage me to take her along with me on the Metairie trip. It turns out, that they changed the school schedule after Rita, in order to keep enough school days in the calendar. Now Katie has school on Friday after all. So we shall schlepp on over on Saturday, coming home on Monday. While in Metairie, I hope to see a few friends, catch a couple of meetings, visit with a real estate agent, and interview a couple who might take care of the house till sale. Yeah, that and PACK! But I don't have any boxes, so it'll be just the sort of packing that I can do with luggage, garbage bags, and an empty van.

Poor Joel is depressed and achy today, and not just from Yom Kippur blues. He even decided to skip shul altogether, which is very unlike his behavior before the accident. A contributing factor: The guy who was his leading contender for work associate/boss sounds more interested in a generalist than in someone with Joel's interests and skills. It's tough to decide whether or not we should stretch to fit ourselves into these Procrustean-bed jobs, or whether we should hold out for something more immediately compatible with our interests. Joel is even sending his license to the chief psychologist at a psych hospital near Metairie. If Joel and I both get work in New Orleans, we'd even come back to stay (against our better judgment and hatred of hurricanes). That would be SO much expense and tsouris for nothing! But at least we'd have our pretty (and hard-won) wood flooring, doggie door and large fenced yard, and Katie's dolphin-painted bedroom.

One day I am ready to buy a house in Houston, and the next I
acknowledge that we may be stuck in Hurricane Land indefinitely.
Aaugh! The uncertainty induced is very much like some of the seemingly
sadistic animal studies that have been performed to study stress.