I test quickly and I'm good at tearing band-aids off in one quick motion, so in college I was usually among the first to go home at the end of the year. My senior year, however, I had to stick around an extra week or so for festivities, culminating, of course, in graduation. I remember watching all my undergrad housemates, pals, and acquaintances trickle off one by one, and knowing I'd never see most of them again. I think I watched a lot of Due South during that period, and felt vaguely numb.
I remember the end of my first semester in China, too, when almost everybody was getting ready to go back to America, back to their families and their own comfortable culture. I kept thinking that I was going home, too, but in fact I had many more Chinese adventures still to come. I remember the day Lili, my best friend in China, went home, and lying on my bed watching Jeeves and Wooster and wishing I were anywhere but Beijing.
I don't mind Krista's absence at all, quite the contrary. As much as I like her, and as easy as she is to live with, it's nice to have the place to myself. I check for murderers in her room and behind the shower curtain when I get home each day, and apart from that I'm good. Plus Cufflinks is here a lot, and when he's not, he's just a text message away. But this morning he left for Alabama and now I am truly alone, just waiting, once again, to see my family.
So far in my aloneness I have gone for a run in the rain, gone to the library for comic books (Brian K. Vaughan is so my new favorite), read the comic books in Soma with a cafe au lait, and made spoon bread. It's thundering, as always, and I'm listening to the Katie Rose Mix. Later I will watch Back to the Future, and tomorrow I will make strawberry jam (NOT strawberry rhubarb jam, grumble grumble). I just have to stave off the loneliness for a few days. I can do that.
(I've disabled comments on this post so that no one will tell me to call my colleagues.)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
