Healing is not a linear process.

I'm so seldom sick that I'm always surprised what a whiny baby I can be when I actually am ill. My mom tried to convince me yesterday that I'm just suffering from allergies, but I'm fairly certain that this is a cold -- some bit of nastiness caught from my friend Claudia, who moved in on Saturday, surrounded by a bit of stress.

She'd had a rather snazzy living arrangement in the past, made even snazzier by the fact that the family she was living with was out of the country for a long time. Recently, it had become rather stressful, and while we both anticipated her moving in at the end of the month, we didn't anticipate her being kicked out on Saturday. We had about ten minutes notice.

Luckily, we -had- been planning for her to move in, so her most valued possessions -- her important personal documents and her computer -- were already here. Three girls and an SUV had the move completed in about an hour.

As it happens, Sunday, we spent a lot of time trying to buy the things we needed to make this little place more liveable for two people. I missed the Austin Journalers meeting as a result, and got a slightly reproachful e-mail from one of the attendees commenting on my absence. It's nice to be missed, I suppose.

Sunday night, with Claudia already sick, we cooked a vegetable soup (that more closely resembled squash soup) from scratch. Having learned very few cooking strategies, I was impressed at how well it actually came out. We made a whole lot of soup, so I'm still eating it most evenings. The Rotel tomatoes we added (our one concession to convenience) are great for clearing out one's sinuses.

There's a lot we haven't figured out yet: how we'll both maintain our personal space; how we'll manage to get our stuff organized so that two people can fit into a space previously occupied by one; where we'll put my bike. But for the time being, it feels a bit like a sleepover -- not so much like a permanent arrangement. That's not a bad thing. The details can wait a while.