I've been back in New York since Wednesday evening and it has been NON-stop since returning to the fast pace of city life. After a day of delayed flights and chilly Chicago over-lay weather, I made it home about five hours after my scheduled arrival time. Take the M60 bus back home? No way, dude. I cabbed it back to the apartment.
My trip was really refreshing and helped me trampoline jump into the craziness that would begin once I returned. I spent a lot of time with my friends and family. Each night, they took me to new Austin bars that I hadn't been to before, a couple of parties, Kerbey Lane (MIGAS!!), friend's houses, etc. Dani and Mark were so gracious to let Keith and I stay at their place. I missed them a lot and really enjoyed our conversations. Playing with Mac and Chewy Chomperson all week stirred up some of my internal cravings to own my own dog again. Sadly, that isn't in the cards for a long time. :(
Some parts of the trip were difficult for me. There were a few times where I definitely felt out of place and out of the loop when it came to the new and exciting things that my Austinite friends were doing. I lost the ability to hold normal conversations with many of them. Most of the time, our conversations solely revolved around New York and my life....when all I really wanted was to talk about them and their lives. I guess this was a normal subject to talk about considering at this moment in my life, New York and my job happened to be the only thing anyone really identifies me with. Simultaneously, I didn't know very much about each of their daily lives, either. It was a difficult realization when it hit me that many of us didn't have any common threads left to talk about like we had worked so hard to develop with one another over the summer. I guess that's what happens when you move away and come back six months later. Things can't stay the same unless you make a ginormous effort to bridge the distance and stay in touch on a daily basis. People move on. Maybe you feel left behind. Even though there were a few people who I clicked with instantly who I hadn't grown close to before I moved, I admit full heartidly that I haven't been the best at keeping in contact with many of my friends who I consider close and staying up to date on the ins and outs of Austin. There are no excuses for this, especially since the internet makes it so easy to drop someone a line instantly, but sometimes it just feels so impersonal and you keep saying you'll send an email the next day, or the day after that, or next week. And then a month goes by.
I must say that the best part about Austin was spending time with my family. Keith and I drove through the fog down to my parents house on Monday and spent the afternoon relaxing at their house. It felt good to eat a home cooked meal, have meaningful conversations and play with Bella. They really enjoyed Keith's company too. It's funny, no matter how old you are, it always feels good to see your parents after being away for so long. Next-up is a visit with my Mom! The next morning I rented a car and caravanned through the countryside back to my parent's house with my brother.
It felt absolutely amazing to drive a car solo through the Texas hill country back roads for two hours. Especially on the drive to the airport at 6am the next morning, watching the sun slowly rising over the hills and the satellite radio crankin, I was in pure heaven. Robby and I had a wonderful time talking, playing with the pup, spending time with the rents and going to the movies. I missed him so much and am really happy I was able to spend some quality time with him for an extra day.
It definitely was a (wayyyy too short) sweet trip and gave me a huge boost of energy and motivation to start this busy week off right. Thank you everyone for spending time with me and being so gracious. I am sorry if I haven't been the best at keeping in touch. With that said, however, you all mean so much to me and the little contact we might have each week means such a great deal to me considering how isolated of an environment I find myself surviving in on a daily basis.
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