Send in the troops

I called my folks a few days ago to give them the lowdown on my current situation and to let them know that I would not be coming down to visit this weekend, but would definitely be there for Christmas. My mom called me yesterday and said they're coming up on Saturday, spending the night at a hotel somewhere and taking me out to eat. She mentioned I'd left some clothes for Goodwill with them before I moved up here and she sold some of them to a resale place and got $20 for me. Also, they want to take me grocery shopping while they're here and she's bringing me a macaroni quiche. She wanted to know if there was anything else I'd like her to make and bring up for me. From the sound of things, my parents are under the impression that I'm soon to be homeless, starving and living in a van down by the river.

I dunno what it is with parents thinking their adult kids aren't eating. That used to be one of the first questions my mom asked me when I'd call her from college, "How's the food? Are you getting enough to eat? Can we send you anything?," and it always made me wonder where she got the idea that her kid was suffering from an eating disorder. If anything, I could previously have been accused of eating more than my share. Now, I eat when I'm hungry, try to be sensible about what I consume and make a conscious effort not to overeat. But I'm certainly not starving myself. However, I decided not to mention that I've lost 10 lbs since I started feeling sick.

The last part of the conversation included a reminder that, while they know it's not something I'd want to do, I can always come back home and live with them. At that point, of course, I started crying and said I knew and I had to go. I should mention that while this conversation was going on, Owen was sitting at my house, had already heard my story and said there was an empty room in the basement of his house I could move into if I wanted when I found a job. While we've talked about living together on several occasions over the last 10 years, this is the first time it could actually be a reality. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but we'll see what happens... I should also mention that the moving home comment prompted me to submit applications for 7 different positions at OHSU today. That's right, 7. And now we wait.