Walking into the Jarrett house on Friday afternoon was like a walking past St. Peter and into heaven. I seriously felt like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders as soon as I set eyes on Kari Jarrett holding Eli. Then Ethan came up and hugged me. It was then I knew that nothing is really wrong with the universe.
I did about six loads of laundry on Friday, went to Cracker Barrel with the family, and then came back and rested and relaxed. Saturday was also quite nice as I got up and went into Kevin and Kari's room, sat on the floor, and had Ethan and Eli crawl all over me as we watched a little kid-friendly TV.
Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending two holiday parties. Jennifer had quite the spread and it was really nice to sit and talk with Jesse. When I say talk "with" Jesse, it pretty much entailed me talking at him for an extended amount of time about why I came home from China. I have been so fortunate to be able to spend time with him since I've been home and he's like a breath of fresh air. He's a boy, and he's my friend, and he acts like it. He's kind and thoughtful and considerate. I told Kelly that if I didn't think he and I would be miserable together, I would totally go after him like he's never been pursued in his life.
From Jennifer's, I went over to Kelly, Jenn and Joanna's. I got to see Alli and Tyler - two people who I hadn't seen in nearly a year. Being around Tyler is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There's just something about that kid. I also saw Audrey, Leslie, Nelson, and Alysson, which was very nice as well. We played a game around midnight called "Zoom". It's supposed to be a drinking game, but I was driving home, so if you messed up, you had to stand up and say something positive about 2009. It was really nice.
Sunday was just a beautiful day. I got up. We went to church - a church that I really like and fully intend on becoming a member of within the next month. We came home. We ate lunch. I sat on the couch with KJ and got lost in the internet while he read. Eli slept, Ethan played. I cooked some dinner. We sat around as a family and watched TV. Eli walked around in my Crocs. I read to Ethan, scratched his back, lotioned him, and he went to sleep. Then there was tea and Criminal Minds. I ended my lovely Sunday by talking to Jesse on the phone.
I know it sounds kind of mundane, but I loved it. There was nothing that could have been added to make it better. It was normal and beautiful and wonderful.
Now it's time to get down to finding a job.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
This is, how they say, the way the story goes.
In January 2008 I boarded a plane Chicago, then another one to Sol, Korea, and finally one to Guangzhou, China. Upon my arrival in a very foreign land, I met Susan, someone who worked for my company. Her kindness and helpfulness overwhelmed me and made my first few days there very comfortable. I started working at a school – well, it’s actually a business – and met there and in that city some of the best friends I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
This is in no uncertain order. . .
Jane from Canada, eh? – Jane and I arrived in Guangzhou within hours of each other and did all of our first things together. We went and got cell phones, bank accounts, and visa pictures taken together. We visited the seven trees temple and ate pigeon together. She is quite a positive person and could always make me smile. She introduced me to Megan, her roommate, also from Canada.
Megan from Canada – my partner in crime – I met Megan at the French restaurant one night where I was meeting Jane. Her incredible personality can take over a room and I’m quite sure that she will one day take over the world. She and I became quite close both because we would get up to no good together and because we just got each other. We spent many-a-hour sitting at a café or in a bar talking about what life threw at us. Her counsel and friendship is priceless to me.
Liz Anhalt – from Chicago – or was she from a bumkin town two hours south of Chicago that no one knew about? – a.k.a. “Stop pulling your skirt over your head, we’re in public” – yes, she was the only one who made me pass out from laughing while in China. One night at a restaurant she was fed up with how her California roll fell apart, so, she picked it up, squished it in her hands, and shoved it in her mouth. She and I were instant friends and I honestly think she is one of my soul mates. My favorite night in China was where I and another friend broke her bed by jumping on it. Her gift to people is her comfort and I am thankful for all the times she saw tears in my eyes, opened her arms wide, pulled me close, and told me “It’s ok baby”. If she only didn’t have such a diabetic boyfriend.
Jamesssssss – from Ely, England – awww, that’s so cute, he’s shooting up! Is it heroin? No, it’s insulin. I saw him from across the room at a workshop and I wrote a note to Liz in which we agreed he was quite cute. That night, after bowling, I manipulated my gorgeous friend Louise into inviting him to our friend Kaytee’s going away party. He obliged and not too soon after that, I saw him mostly naked. It wasn’t much past that he and Liz started dating.
Louise Wain – guitarist extraordinaire – What a woman! How do I love her? Let me count the ways. . . I love her when she sings a song, I love her in the morning long, I love her in a crowded bar, I love her when we travel far, I love her while she’s in a mood, I love her when she’s being crude, I love her when she’s scared of bugs, I love her when she gives me hugs. . . I don’t know how it happened that I got so lucky to become her friend, but knowing her opened up my eyes to the world. The day that she left to go back to England was one of my saddest days in China.
Kaytee – Megan’s sister – she was only with us for a short while, but when she was there, she was there. Kaytee left China in August to go plant trees in Canada but before she left, she introduced us to both her beautiful self and the fabric market. She’s a very kind and loving person. She’s also someone that I could always get into trouble with, and I like that.
Stephanie from NORTHERN California came to me late in my year. She was kind enough to take over my apartment and that saved me a lot of money. She was also one of my dancing buddies that kept me going the past month as I waited patiently to return home.
Dan Elsworth or better yet, the most disgusting and goofiest looking man in the world hurled a whole lot of abuse my way. His idea of fun is to fart on people. That is not my idea of fun. But, he did plan pretty much all my adult classes for me because he bought the Cutting Edge books from the book center and I would always come to him and ask “What should I do with my RE10 class tomorrow morning?”
Rob “I’m a miserable bastard” Marchant – How much fun could I’ve had with out him? None, probably. Rob added a level of maltreatment and humor into my life that I had never seen before. No one has ever given me as much crap as him. He is one of the funniest people I have ever met and I will miss his cruelty.
Steven “The Hot Stepper” Walsh – from Dublin with the accent to prove it – I tried to explain my relationship with him to one of the new people, because it isn’t quite run-of-the-mill. In my explanation, I said that we are quite close, but we’re not that chummy. I wouldn’t call him just to chat or to go shopping, but we would sit down and try to solve all the problems of the world. When we talked, we talked about things that mattered. Thinking of him right now and knowing that it will be a while before I see his face makes me tear up a little.
Mike – laziest, most comfortable, most photogenic, strongest. . . man in the world. Mike was one of the best friends that I ever had. Liz, Louise and I almost turned him into a woman before the boys got a hold of him. I spent many nights sitting next to him in any number of bars listening and participating in conversations about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Big Buildings, physics, theology, politics. . . pretty much anything under the sun. He was also the person who taught me that when you throw a dart backwards it quickly turns around and the pointy side hits always.
And so it ended, in the middle of a Tuesday night as I boarded a plane to Sol, Korea, and then to Atlanta where I met two of my oldest friends carrying a sign that welcomed me home.
In January 2008 I boarded a plane Chicago, then another one to Sol, Korea, and finally one to Guangzhou, China. Upon my arrival in a very foreign land, I met Susan, someone who worked for my company. Her kindness and helpfulness overwhelmed me and made my first few days there very comfortable. I started working at a school – well, it’s actually a business – and met there and in that city some of the best friends I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
This is in no uncertain order. . .
Jane from Canada, eh? – Jane and I arrived in Guangzhou within hours of each other and did all of our first things together. We went and got cell phones, bank accounts, and visa pictures taken together. We visited the seven trees temple and ate pigeon together. She is quite a positive person and could always make me smile. She introduced me to Megan, her roommate, also from Canada.
Megan from Canada – my partner in crime – I met Megan at the French restaurant one night where I was meeting Jane. Her incredible personality can take over a room and I’m quite sure that she will one day take over the world. She and I became quite close both because we would get up to no good together and because we just got each other. We spent many-a-hour sitting at a café or in a bar talking about what life threw at us. Her counsel and friendship is priceless to me.
Liz Anhalt – from Chicago – or was she from a bumkin town two hours south of Chicago that no one knew about? – a.k.a. “Stop pulling your skirt over your head, we’re in public” – yes, she was the only one who made me pass out from laughing while in China. One night at a restaurant she was fed up with how her California roll fell apart, so, she picked it up, squished it in her hands, and shoved it in her mouth. She and I were instant friends and I honestly think she is one of my soul mates. My favorite night in China was where I and another friend broke her bed by jumping on it. Her gift to people is her comfort and I am thankful for all the times she saw tears in my eyes, opened her arms wide, pulled me close, and told me “It’s ok baby”. If she only didn’t have such a diabetic boyfriend.
Jamesssssss – from Ely, England – awww, that’s so cute, he’s shooting up! Is it heroin? No, it’s insulin. I saw him from across the room at a workshop and I wrote a note to Liz in which we agreed he was quite cute. That night, after bowling, I manipulated my gorgeous friend Louise into inviting him to our friend Kaytee’s going away party. He obliged and not too soon after that, I saw him mostly naked. It wasn’t much past that he and Liz started dating.
Louise Wain – guitarist extraordinaire – What a woman! How do I love her? Let me count the ways. . . I love her when she sings a song, I love her in the morning long, I love her in a crowded bar, I love her when we travel far, I love her while she’s in a mood, I love her when she’s being crude, I love her when she’s scared of bugs, I love her when she gives me hugs. . . I don’t know how it happened that I got so lucky to become her friend, but knowing her opened up my eyes to the world. The day that she left to go back to England was one of my saddest days in China.
Kaytee – Megan’s sister – she was only with us for a short while, but when she was there, she was there. Kaytee left China in August to go plant trees in Canada but before she left, she introduced us to both her beautiful self and the fabric market. She’s a very kind and loving person. She’s also someone that I could always get into trouble with, and I like that.
Stephanie from NORTHERN California came to me late in my year. She was kind enough to take over my apartment and that saved me a lot of money. She was also one of my dancing buddies that kept me going the past month as I waited patiently to return home.
Dan Elsworth or better yet, the most disgusting and goofiest looking man in the world hurled a whole lot of abuse my way. His idea of fun is to fart on people. That is not my idea of fun. But, he did plan pretty much all my adult classes for me because he bought the Cutting Edge books from the book center and I would always come to him and ask “What should I do with my RE10 class tomorrow morning?”
Rob “I’m a miserable bastard” Marchant – How much fun could I’ve had with out him? None, probably. Rob added a level of maltreatment and humor into my life that I had never seen before. No one has ever given me as much crap as him. He is one of the funniest people I have ever met and I will miss his cruelty.
Steven “The Hot Stepper” Walsh – from Dublin with the accent to prove it – I tried to explain my relationship with him to one of the new people, because it isn’t quite run-of-the-mill. In my explanation, I said that we are quite close, but we’re not that chummy. I wouldn’t call him just to chat or to go shopping, but we would sit down and try to solve all the problems of the world. When we talked, we talked about things that mattered. Thinking of him right now and knowing that it will be a while before I see his face makes me tear up a little.
Mike – laziest, most comfortable, most photogenic, strongest. . . man in the world. Mike was one of the best friends that I ever had. Liz, Louise and I almost turned him into a woman before the boys got a hold of him. I spent many nights sitting next to him in any number of bars listening and participating in conversations about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Big Buildings, physics, theology, politics. . . pretty much anything under the sun. He was also the person who taught me that when you throw a dart backwards it quickly turns around and the pointy side hits always.
And so it ended, in the middle of a Tuesday night as I boarded a plane to Sol, Korea, and then to Atlanta where I met two of my oldest friends carrying a sign that welcomed me home.
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