I'll Always Be Grateful for Your Return
I'm going to Iowa this weekend. Why Iowa, you ask? (Everyone asks.) Why the hell not? I've never been there, for one. But mostly I'm going to visit a friend. This is the part when everyone says, wow, you're a really good friend. Not really. I want to get out of New York for a couple of days. I want to go somewhere I've never been and relax. It has to be cheap. I want to visit one friend, instead of running around town all weekend trying to cram in ten different visits. Ta da. Iowa. To which I might add, have you ever even been there?
Yesterday was j.'s two year anniversary being back in the States. I took him out for a big Mexican meal to show him my gratitude. He could still be in Africa right now and where would I be? Certainly not writing this blog. Two years ago yesterday, I took the A train out to JFK at the crack of dawn and waited behind those customs gates for j. to come through the door. I had the most inane thoughts, but very typical of me. Like, where should I be standing when he comes out? Should I be leaning against the railing to show my eagerness or sitting back in that chair to make him look for me through the crowd? Should I stand at the end of the railing or the beginning? Do I kiss him or just hug him?
I don't remember what I ended up doing. I just remember that we went back to his parents apartment from the airport and I met his parents for the first time. They had friends staying with them and we all went out for brunch and three cups of coffee later I was still not feeling awake or with it and god knows what I was saying to his parents (but they like me now regardless and that's all that matters) and my stomach hurt a lot. And then j. and I walked to Banana Republic so he could buy a winter coat. And I think we took a stroll through Central Park on our way back to his parent's place. It was overcast, gray, with a chill wind and I was cold as we walked, but so happy. I hadn't seen him in five months but it felt so normal and so right to be with him again.
Yesterday was j.'s two year anniversary being back in the States. I took him out for a big Mexican meal to show him my gratitude. He could still be in Africa right now and where would I be? Certainly not writing this blog. Two years ago yesterday, I took the A train out to JFK at the crack of dawn and waited behind those customs gates for j. to come through the door. I had the most inane thoughts, but very typical of me. Like, where should I be standing when he comes out? Should I be leaning against the railing to show my eagerness or sitting back in that chair to make him look for me through the crowd? Should I stand at the end of the railing or the beginning? Do I kiss him or just hug him?
I don't remember what I ended up doing. I just remember that we went back to his parents apartment from the airport and I met his parents for the first time. They had friends staying with them and we all went out for brunch and three cups of coffee later I was still not feeling awake or with it and god knows what I was saying to his parents (but they like me now regardless and that's all that matters) and my stomach hurt a lot. And then j. and I walked to Banana Republic so he could buy a winter coat. And I think we took a stroll through Central Park on our way back to his parent's place. It was overcast, gray, with a chill wind and I was cold as we walked, but so happy. I hadn't seen him in five months but it felt so normal and so right to be with him again.
posted by hannah at 10:40 AM
3 Comments:
That's so cute.
You should marry him.
Ooohh --yearbook section in our Lit. mag.
In truth I got "Most Likely Not to Wed" in college.
Yeah let's, cuz my crappy yearbook didn't have cute tag lines for people. No voting. Nothing. Best couple, not as good as Couple Most Likely to Succeed, but I'll take it. Karen, you'd win Has the Cutest Kids, hands down.
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