Feels like it's been five years in one

Dear Leigh,

I'm afraid I've been a woefully neglectful cousin. In fact, I know I have. It's been a crazy/hellish year for me, yet I believe yours has been even more so. I keep wondering how you are, so I figured I should stop wondering and just write to you.

So, how are you? You're in school, right? And am I mistaken in thinking you have a new job? I'd like to hear about all of that.

Life here in wild and wonderful West Virginia has finally reached a state of equilibrium. Since this time last year, Jeremiah and I have been through a lot. He became increasingly moody as the school-year wore on, refused to go out to eat, to movies, to concerts, decided he would not eat sugar... and then he switched to the non-fiction program, made a friend or two, and is again the Jeremiah that I know. Meanwhile, I've loathed and loved my job, bought a lot of clothing, feared for my life on snowy roads, been rejected by WVU's PhD program, let go of my childhood home forever, learned my best friend is pregnant, learned I may not be able to ever be pregnant, and had to send my dear sweet cat to live in the country because of his peeing problem. We are, at least, out of that awful carpeted postage-stamp smelly apartment and into something nice. And Jeremiah and I know each other so much better now (though I thought that wasn't possible).

I forgot about the double budget crises, which made me fear for my job (which is now stable again). Good Lord, what a year. And I'm only 25!

So that's my life as it is now, in a nutshell. It's been a year of re-evaluating what is REALLY important to me and learning that I don't actually have a distinct purpose in life, and can't rely on ever having one GRAND purpose. Oh, what a luxury graduate school was!

Anyway, I hope you'll write back soon. I miss hearing from you.

Love,
Kate