difficult, but hopeful.

Full of hard changes, this has been a difficult, but hopeful, week.

It seems things are going to transition much more quickly than I had anticipated with my housing and my job, leaving me with two, possibly three, weeks in February of hardly any work, no roommates, and no internet (which always seems to be a fallback).  As I think about that time, it makes me want to cry.  I don't have many real friends left in the city, as many were students and in periods of transition (as was/am I), so have moved on.  And I won't have many, if any at all, commitments during that time.

While I mourn the loss of everything I have grown accustomed to, it leaves me hopeful for what I can do with all of that time:
I hope to shrink my reading list.
The list of museums I'd like to visit will get checked off
I hope to frequent the 8th floor of the Harold Washington Library where there are piano practice rooms available.
A whole lot of time alone to reflect on the end of a season of my life.
Perhaps visits to friends who live near Chicago?

Nevertheless, I look at my lovely, soon to be mostly empty, apartment and I have to convince myself that this list will make it an enjoyable time.  I have confidence that God will use it to prepare me for the next stage.