And so it is here. My last night at home on Katie’s other bed’s too-squishy mattress. The last night to tiptoe around at odd times of the night — and day — because Dad is sleeping. The last night to smell the still-fragrant Christmas tree (the best tree ever).
I am really not looking forward to leaving. I am looking forward to the next couple days in Atlanta, and seeing friends, but not to the end of my vacation. It has been so nice to be home. Mom said tonight that it’s been a pleasure having me, which sounds formal coming from a parent, but she laughed and said she meant it. When I told her how happy I have been to be back in Charlotte, she said it probably has a little bit to do with the fact that it had been so long — a whole year — since I had been here.
She might be right. There have been at least half a dozen moments in the past two weeks when I’ve turned to whoever I was with and said “I should come home more often.” I said it to Cayce and Jes and Amanda, to Katie, to Mom, to Dad, to David. I might even say it to Brian, if he didn’t keep “accidentally” hitting me in the back with his new football.
Anyway. Tomorrow Dad and I are leaving shortly after lunchtime. He’ll drop me off in Athens at James and Chrissy’s house, then head back to Charlotte without me. And Thursday I’ll fly back to Houston, and Friday I’ll be back at work. Ugh! It is too sad to think about.
Tonight Mom and Brian and I went out to dinner at a new deli way out Colony Road. Bear Rocks Cafe. I wasn’t too hungry after a big lunch at Chili’s with Cayce and Amanda, so I just had a salad, but it was good. Nice place. With the exception of lunch and dinner, I spent the rest of the day working on my t-shirt quilt. It is almost done! There are four more seams left to sew; two of them are pinned and I will sew them first thing in the morning, then I’ll pin the last two and sew the thing closed. After that, I’ll just need to sew some darts to keep the batting in place, which I’ll do once I get back to Houston.
The quilt looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. You can take one look and tell that it wasn’t done by someone with any actual sewing knowledge, but that’s not the point. I am proud of it, and it is awesome for reliving memories from the past two years of running and associated stories. The cool thing about making the quilt so soon after gathering the t-shirts is that I can still remember each individual race, and picture parts of the course in my mind. I love it. It is so cool.
