when all that you wanted / when all that you had don't seem so much / for you to hold onto

I was in Atlanta all weekend. The days passed slowly, as summer vacation days should. On Friday, Carter only worked a half day so that we could drive up to James and Chrissy’s house in Athens. Chris followed a few hours later and we ate grilled burgers and played croquet on the front lawn. James, Carter and I even squeezed in a game of Settlers, so that was fun.

Saturday we were back in Atlanta in time to have lunch with Iffy, check out the condo Carter is considering buying, and then have dinner with Karen and Brian. It was different to see Karen in Atlanta for once, and not in some strange foreign city! Sunday morning we got up early to hop on MARTA and head to the start line of the Peachtree Road Race, otherwise known as the world’s largest 10K race. I went back to time group 5 with Carter, and we had to wait about half an hour after the official start of the race before we crossed the start line, but that wasn’t a big deal.

This is the second year I’ve done this race, and I love it. There are people lining the course the entire way (though some spots are more populated than others), and I just love the feeling of running down a street that I knew so well for five years of my life. I love mentally picking out the landmarks along the way. There’s the Cheesecake Factory, site of a couple birthday dinners, on the right, followed by the Catholic church Kent always went to, Houston’s and Mick’s and Fratelli’s. We passed the Shepherd Center where Christina got better, the statue of the men holding up the world, the High, and finally finished at Piedmont Park right about where I went rollerblading my freshman year.

There are so many random memories along that road, I can’t help but love running into them.

Rachel came down from the Georgia mountains Sunday afternoon, with a special request to go to the Avondale fireworks, so off we went. The fireworks were nice, if a little choppy, and afterward we wandered the dark streets in search of Carter and Rachel’s friends, who don’t ever remember me but would probably be surprised to find out how many stories I know about them. We walked into Andrew’s house and his mom promptly fed us cake, because it was her birthday.

It was yummy cake.

The early morning wake-up time for the race finally got to me, and I trudged back to the car in a sleepy haze while Carter and Rachel rode their Avondale high. Yesterday the three of us spent time in the sun at the pool before taking in an afternoon movie. Rachel headed back to the mountains, while Carter and I took off to find a geocache and buy a board game. Neither of those ended up happening, because in the process of geocaching we disturbed a swarm of angry yellow jackets. We spent the rest of the night buying bee sting stuff at Walmart and commiserating about the pain of the stings. Carter got the worse end of the hive and ended up with about 16 stings. I lucked out with only four.

I recommend staying away from yellow jackets.

The trip ended with today with a delayed MARTA train, hellish security lines at the airport that backed up almost to the MARTA station, and a lovely couple that let me jump in line ahead of them. I never would have made the plane without them, and it was also good that Carter suggested printing my boarding pass last night.

And now I’m home. Or, rather, at work.

Visiting Atlanta is always interesting, because the city and the people leave me feeling two things at once. When I first see the skyline I feel as if I am coming home after a long trip, and I smile. It is so nice to catch up with good friends, and see people that I don’t talk to regularly. And for a moment, I want to move back to Atlanta. But after a few days I begin to feel like I have overstayed my welcome with Carter, who has to put me up on his couch for nights in a row, and with the city itself. It’s as if the city doesn’t want me there anymore. And it stops feeling like home.

On Saturday night after dinner, Karen and Brian and Carter and I walked around campus to see the new student center and peek through the windows of the new rec center. It’s all very nice, and I wish some of the improvements had been made while I was still there. But it’s not my campus anymore, and I don’t feel like I own it the way I once did. The Nique looks different, and the people look younger. It’s all so familiar, and yet strange, as if I’ve fallen into some sort of parallel universe. And I realize that I can’t go back. I don’t know if Atlanta or Tech wants me back. I don’t know if there is anything there for me anymore.

I know that makes it sound like I didn’t have a good trip, and that’s not true. I had a nice time.