Beginning of the End

The quarter is winding up just as our time here is winding down. As people point out to me, I'm here until December (put the boxes away... it's still too early to pack...), and L is here for at least 5-6 more weeks. But I'm beginning to take stock of the lifestyle we're going to leave behind when we move into the next phase of our lives:

• L will probably have to be in a work location at a certain time in the morning, and probably at an earlier time than we presently enjoy. Taking leisurely mornings together and enjoying coffee and internets w/o a direct time pressure is one of my favorite parts of our ABD lives. Not like we're sleeping in until late morning (up before 8, generally by 7:20/30), but the lack of having to be at a certain place at a certain time is really nice.
• Putting on Die Hard (I had never seen it) at 10:15 on Sunday night and sharing homebrew will also have to go back to being a weekend night event.
• Commuting into and back from work together.
• Having a workplace to go to that isn't my couch/home office.
• The accessible, natural beauty of SC - running by the ocean, walking through redwoods.
• Thinking the recent 95 degree weather is hot.

Some of these changes will be good - L having to get up for work will make me get up for work, will hopefully translate into more work getting done. Hopefully the impending heat of the day will get me out of bed for morning runs (which will also help with the waking up and the not drinking so much beer). But there are a lot of beautiful moments in my life that I only really get to keep for the next couple of weeks and we are only really enjoying b/c we are in grad school. With all my bitching about being a grad student, the flexible schedule that happens w/ ABDs is really wonderful.