The Zess Press: New York, New York

I can't figure out if I should ask "Is Rochester ready for the Zess'?" or "Are the Zess' ready for Rochester?"

Well I promised that I would start a blog to keep all of my Vermont friends up-to-date on this glamorous life of mine, so here we go.

It's been almost 2.5 weeks since we left good ole Vermont and moved to our familiar Rochester. The move went as smoothly as we could ask for. Good thing we had "Pearson Brothers Moving & Storage" (a.k.a. my dad and uncle) to spearhead the process. Their careers as engineers came in super handy when packing the 26 foot truck. It was like 3-D Tetris. A big thanks to them and all the friends in Vermont that helped us load. We couldn't have done it without you ... well ... we COULD have ... but it would have been a lot slower and tons more frustrating.

We arrived in Rochester at about 5:30pm and were greeted with lots of family ready to help unload the majority of the truck into my in-law's house, attic, and storage space above the garage. By the end our assembly lines were super productive and a spaghetti dinner was the perfect ending to an exhausting day. The next day, Sunday, the rest of the truck was unloaded at our storage unit.

Monday (two days after we moved) was a rough day. Kyle had very little downtime, as he began his new job that day. I was used to him being around, since that was our new normal after the layoff. Suddenly, I found myself alone. Just Maggie and I. My parents and Kyle's parents all work, as do all of my handful of friends that I still have here. I was still pretty tired from a busy weekend so I parked myself on the couch and let the PBS app work its magic on the iPad for Maggie. I decided I would let myself be sad and emotional that day. I allowed myself to cry a lot say to myself "this just sucks." I missed my Vermont family so much. SO MUCH.

The next day was better, waking up with a brighter spirit. Thanks to a lot of therapy, I like to think I know myself pretty well, so I decided to do what I know will help me ... STAY BUSY.

I make a plan the night before for the next day. Maggie and I get out of the house every morning. It's worked really well, except for when it's time to head home. (By home I mean my in-laws' house, which is where we are crashing.) Maggie is a big fan of being out and about and never wants to head back home. It's made for some interesting car rides.

We had a great Halloween. Maggie and I started the day trick-or-treating at a local library, then went to show off her costume to her Great Gram (my grandmother). We ended the day by being in the village parade and trick-or-treating our way back with Maggie's neighbor buddy, Gavin.

trick-or-treating at the library

Gavin and Maggie in the parade

"lollipops!"

Our little cupcake

It's been such a blessing not to have to start over in an unfamiliar place. We have gone to my parents' house for dinner on Fridays and even spent our first weekend all alone there overnight Maggie-free while the 'rents were in Pennsylvania. We are definitely taking advantage of our live-in babysitters when we can. Being without family nearby for almost 7.5 years has made us very much appreciate their availability now. I grew up in the same city as both sets of my grandparents and I am excited that Maggie will have the same opportunity.

I will write a little more soon about how we are adjusting and how I've been feeling about everything. (After I wrote this sentence I thought "wow, if I had just read this on someone's blog I would've rolled my eyes thinking how boring that would be to read." I promise I'll do my best not to bore you.)

I'll leave you with some pictures of an outing to the zoo with my favorite redhead, words from my buddy Frank Sinatra, and tell you that I'm doing okay. I know I have a lot of Vermonters worried about me during this huge life change. I'm fine. I'm not great, but I'm fine. :)