The cat was sent home with some antibiotics and pain relievers and seems to be doing ok (the car is yet to be determined and still on the side of the road, let's hope that's ok too); a rough night for sure, but one made immensely better by friends who rescue you off the side of the road (and bring you a slice of pizza while they're at it), and who offer to drive you and your cat to the emergency vet, in the snow, 30 minutes away, at 10:30 at night, because your car is dead on the side of the road. That's like a giant bomb of kindness, and a reminder, not just of how amazing the people we've come to know here in Pittsburgh are, but how far we've come from our early, incredibly cynical days in this city.
When we first moved here it was a shock to the system, our move was so quick that the focus was purely on finding a place to live, getting our stuff in a truck, and spending as much time with our friends and family as possible. I know I've talked a lot about this before -- are we entering broken record territory yet? -- but I'm not sure I've ever quite owned up the the fact that well, we hated it here at first, and were kind of jerks about it. I don't care to look back on them, but it's pretty clear from my early Pittsburgh blog posts that I was having a tough time getting comfortable and finding my stride (i.e. I was bummed out and a bummer to be around). Hindsight is 20/20, right? Looking back, there are so many things that I would have done differently, approached differently. And the knowledge of that is something that I want to make sure I hold on to, or at least document. So that if I'm ever in the position of being in a new city again, I can learn from past mistakes.
This is quickly slipping into saccharine-sweet territory, but just something I wanted to put out there between supervising a drowsy, drugged-up cat and renewing my AAA subscription so I can get my car towed.
On the upside, I think I have enough fodder for a pretty solid country western song.
