From the Mixed-up Files of Art Awakenings

November-ish, I get a call. "Hey Tempe Art Awakenings is full, but how would you like to go to the Phoenix studio?" Yeah, okay. Sure. Beats sitting around at home doing nothing all day. But then there's a new problem. Who in their right mind (not saying I'm exactly in my right mind, but still...) would want to make the three-hour round trip on the bus? Well, okay, I guess I could do it. After all, they'd said I could transfer over to the Tempe studio (a four-minute walk--I timed it) sooner that way. Around the first of the year, they'd initially told me. I could handle that. The first of the year came. Full, they told me. No room for me to squeeze in. So I waited some more. Last week I heard the news. She was back! The woman who ran the Tempe studio before I left had returned to her position. I heard the news in my weekly therapy session and couldn't contain my excitement. I'd missed her. "You should go drop in and say 'hi' sometime," it was suggested. So I did. With a good excuse--picking up copies of old paystubs--I made the four-minute walk to the Tempe studio. The receptionist handed me my paystubs. "I have a question," I started. "We don't answer questions on Tuesdays," she joked. I asked if I could see her. She was standing around the corner, just out of view. "Who is that?" she asked, "Keep talking...I know that voice." She came around the corner and was just as excited to see me as I was to see her. She invited me back to the studio to see how it looked since I'd left. I told her about my unsuccessful attempts to get back to the Tempe studio; about my close proximity to the Tempe studio and my lengthy bus rides to Phoenix. She asked if I wanted to stay for a while and had me sign in. And just like that, I was invited to rejoin the Tempe studio. And to make things even better, she told me I can continue to go to therapy in Phoenix. It was a great day!

And as if my day couldn't get any better, I learned of my upcoming birthday present from my parents--a laptop!