Day “I’m Ready for Home”

It never fails. No matter how far I travel, or how long I’m gone, I always start to get this ache deep inside that reminds me where my heart really is. It always reminds me when I’m ready for home, when I’m ready to go back and give my mom and daddy a hug and a kiss. It doesn’t matter who I’m with, or where I’m at, or if I’m having the time of my life… when that ache starts up, it really gets going. So when I woke up this morning, even though I was starting to get sick and was already dreading saying goodbye to my family in Virginia, I was getting giddy like a little girl on Christmas eve because all I could think about was being back in Florida and back at school and back at my house with my mom and dad and sister… and cats. (;

Day 6 – Friday. Friday was a lot of fun for me. I went into the city… BY MYSELF! I think it’s the fact that I was alone in some big city where anything could happen at any moment that really got me excited. I rode the bus all by myself… I caught the metro and connecting lines all by myself… I explored the city all by myself… I ate lunch all by myself… I bumped into people, I tripped over my own feet and laughed at myself, I walked to the sweet sounds of The Weepies… all by myself.

I like being by myself. It’s comforting, in a way. To be alone, but in a crowd of people. Sometimes it can be discouraging if that’s not what you’re looking for… But Friday, that is exactly what I was looking for. It was nice to be able to walk where I wanted to walk and do what I wanted to do and take however long or not-long I wanted to. I decided if I went right or left, I decided when to cross the road, or even if I wanted to cross the road. I liked being alone with my thoughts, even though I didn’t have any profound realizations or anything.

But I missed Brandy. While I was off gallivanting around the city, Brandy was back at Heather’s laying in bed being sick. I felt bad leaving her, but after being cooped up in the house all day on Thursday, I could not stay one more hour in the house. My soul yearned to be out and moving among the people of the nation’s capital. So, as bad as I felt leaving her, I did. She is doing much better now, and I was worried about her all day. I feel like I should have texted her more and called her, but my logic in the moment was that I didn’t want to wake her up if she was sleeping. She seriously needed to rest to gather some strength, so I held my texting to a minimum. She’s doing better, though, and we’re still friends after one weird week together. We went through the awkward stage of “meeting the family,” then we spent the day together getting into the groove of the week, then we had an argument on Tuesday or Wednesday which, looking back, was actually a pretty large argument for us, and the next day we were okay again. And tonight walking out of the airport we shared laughing and secret sharing while Amos, Brandy’s boyfriend, walked on ahead of us. Our friendship didn’t get rocked at all, and I’m pretty sure we’re not as good as friends as before. Because we’re better friends. (And Brandy, if I’m wrong about that, don’t tell me… just let me think what I want. (; haha)

Anyways. So today was our last day, and we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to go watch Sydney play her morning soccer game for their tournament this weekend. (: it was great, and I am so glad that I was able to see her play! She played well, and she played hard. And I’m hoping that the second game went as well as the first, and that the girls were maybe even able to pull a shut-out. (; that’d be great. Anyways, it was really important to me that I see her play. I don’t really know why, but it was… so I’m glad that I was able to go. Even if it was raining, and we were standing in the -134070348degree cold, and the wind was blowing, and I was soaking wet and freezing cold and couldn’t feel my fingers or my toes. It was worth it. (:

but now I am back home, and I miss them, and my eyes are droopy and my throat is sore and my back hurts and all I want to do is sleep, and go back up there next week to pick up where I left off. Being up there with them taught me a few things about family, and maybe I’ll share that cheezy stuff with you later. Just know that my family, no matter how crazy, or messed up, or ridiculous, or ugly… my family is my family, and I love them. The Lord has been so good to me, and has blessed me with so much. My family is the tops. (:

The End. (: but not for long…