Goodbye, [Charlottesville]

Hello dear friends,

Most of you know that I lost my grandfather last Wednesday. He was truely a great man who, in partnership with my grandmother, his wife, worked to make our country and our town of Rockville a better place. He can now be with Grandma who passed away last June and with his first born son who passed away many years ago. They were married for over 62 years. I don't mean to be morose in this post, but you have all been so supportive and I thought this would be a good outlet for a tribute. Some of his projects included budgeting for the EPA in its early years, working for fair housing in DC and Montgomery County, Peerless Rockville, assisting in the foundation of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville, and doing archeological digs for the Rockville Historical Society. He worked for the Federal government during the Eisenhower administration and the Johnson adminstration and also spent many years in local government. He was Mayor of Rockville from 1958 to 1962. He and Grandma Jayne gave their children black armbands to wear during the civil rights movement and took them to march for civil rights in DC. My Grandmother was remarkable too. She wrote for local papers as well as the Washington Post and participated in dozens of community and politcal organizations. They truely made their mark in this world. I thank them for my liberal persuasion and my love of nature. Some of my best memories are of Papa reading me a favorite book about the indigenous people of Canada and talking nature walks with Grandma and Papa. They would always point out the smallest wonders of nature in the petals of flower or a bud on a branch and we could sit contently and watch the birds for hours. There is so much more to say, but I will leave it at that. Thanks for being such great friends. I really appreciate you.

Now to pick up where I left off earlier:

I started writing this post on 1.27 and then saved it when I got the news about Papa... the Friday I was talking about was 1.29 and the Monday was yesterday, 2.1...

Trevor and I are currently drinking a celebratory bottle of wine because he got the job he went after in Arlington. His last day at his current job is Friday and his first day at Washington Golf and Country Club is Monday. We knew this change was coming, we just didn't realize how fast it would be here! I unfortunatelty cannot leave Charlottesville on Monday because I am in the middle of a clinical rotation at the UVA rehabilitation center. I am hoping to double up on my hours so that I can leave by the end of February (and hopefully not pay rent for March). We are both going to stay with our parents in Rockville/Gaithersburg until he finds an affordable place to live closer to work. I am in my last semester at school and will be done with academic coursework in May! I also will be starting fieldwork for school in May which means I will be working full time with the OTs at Shady Grove Adventist acute inpatient rehab from May to August and then full time with an OT at Montgomery County Public Schools from August to November. Then, in December 2010 I will graduate and take the board certification exam, eek! If all goes according to plan I will finally be out in the workforce next January, 2011.



Good news: I am going to be back in the DC area, close to family, and Trevor will have much better benefits!

Bad news: I feel like I didn't take advantage of Cville enough while I was here and I have to live alone down here for a month!

So... thats my update. Bittersweet. Most of all, thanks for your friendship!

Liz