Back and Missing My Friends

My trip home was too much fun! I basically lived the single life with my best friend for four, fun-filled days. Now, when I say single, I'm not talking about bar-hopping and running around like some crazed woman. I'm talking about going where I want to go, when I want to go whenever I want to go. I'm saying that I didn't have to put anyone into a booster or car seat, buckle them up and make sure the strap wasn't too tight. I didn't have to wait for kiddlings to finally get out of the car, only to realize they left some scrap of clothing or (heaven forbid) their shoes.

I could also go into places and not worry about hands touching and picking up everything. I could spend time browsing and not worry about brattiness ("Don't touch me!" "She's not listening, mom!" "Why can't we go there?" "I'm hungry!") I missed my girls, but I didn't miss all of this.

I arrived in Nashville, the Friday before last, at around 10:30pm. I picked up my car (a Hyundai Elantra in grey) and drove over to the hotel. Once I checked in, I discovered that I had two, double beds instead of the single King I thought I was going to get. Sweet! I called my friend and told her to bring a bag. Slumber party! When she arrived, we went to pick up a late dinner, came back to the room and talked, talked, talked. The next day, she had to get her hair done. I worked out while she was gone, talked to my dad, and arranged a lunch with my sorority sister. At lunch, my soror, my best friend and I talked, and talked and talked for nearly three hours. I'm sure the wait-staff was ready for us to go.

We hit nearly every hair shop where I spent way too much money. For that Saturday evening? Bowling and Captain D's for dinner. Sunday, it was off to her church for morning service. We left and went to IHOP, where we connected with my dad. He was nearly 45 minutes late (CP time for real!) and then he wouldn't let us leave. Two hours later and lots of rain, we headed back to the room to recuperate. Later, we went back out for dinner and watched "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" on my computer. We were planning on going to a haunted house, but we didn't want to stand in the rain.

Monday, we went to my high school friend's, daughter's junior high to speak for their college week. It was a lot of fun and they asked a lot of very intelligent questions (for the most part). It's junior high, after all. Afterwards, we kidnapped my friend and had lunch at Long John Silvers. Then, it was time to see Zombieland. Awesome! I haven't had that much fun at a movie in a long time. We were the only ones in the theater, talking loud and cracking jokes. It was the best! (I went to see it again with hubby two days later). There are so many great one-liners. We're still quoting them, ever chance we get.

We went to the mall for slurpees and strolled through our childhood hang out, now nearly deserted (due to our lovely economic climate). Her hubby was eager to have her back, so we took her home around five. For Monday night? BB King's House of Blues. Oh, yeah. It was the perfect end to a fantastic trip. We saw the Stacy Mitchhart band and turned into groupies for the evening, grabbing autographs and buying CDs. I love live music and I really hate that I don't get enough of it at home. That's gotta change.

Tuesday was a bit depressing. We picked up breakfast and turned in my car. After which, we hung out at Opry Mills and then had lunch. Then, off to the airport to come home. It's always so hard to leave. My best friend said it best when she described our friendship; "The longer we remain friends, the more we appreciate each other...the harder it is to separate." Ugh! If only I could beam them here when I need them.

So, I don't go again until 2011. She wants to try the skiing thing the next time she's here (2010). I'll be pricing that out, along with hospital stays for when limbs are broken. I told her, "Only the bunny slopes for me!" I just don't want to meet my end tumbling down a mountain, you know?

Let's Do it Again/No Repeats

The dinner was wonderful...much better than I thought it would be (oh, and not necessarily the food...that was just average). It took my mind off things for a while. Then, as we were talking about babies and getting up in the night to take care of them, my girlfriend said, "I bet you didn't even have to nudge "hubby" when Indy was a baby. I bet he just got up. He just adores you! He loves you so much." I swear I wanted to cry right there. I did my best to hold it in. I guess acting runs in the family cause she didn't seem to notice I was in turmoil.

After a little more chatting, we got ready to leave and I told them I wanted to do the dinner again soon. Really...I need this. I need the distraction, the support of women. Women who are human too and who are also dealing with true issues. One friend's sex drive is gone, so her hubby is convinced she doesn't want him anymore (she's recently had a baby, so this is totally normal...of course, he doesn't know this). One is trying to adopt a child, since she cannot conceive on her own. She's very thin and has had medical issues most of her life, but the bureaucracy of adoption and medical tests is preventing her dream currently. The other, who was married five years ago, didn't want children at the time of marriage (neither did he). Now, she's aching for a baby and he's still not interested. He's older (there is an 8 year age difference, so convincing him is not going to be easy).

I made it home and got dressed for bed, then I went looking for hubby. I let him know that I was home, but there was no rush for him to leave. He seemed a little "lost" in his thoughts, but got up and started to prepare to leave. He told me that his "landlords" were off in Vegas and it would be his first night handling the house alarm by himself (he was a bit worried). I walked him to the door and then we hugged. I fell apart. I laid on his shoulder and just cried. A minute or two passed and I felt him trying to pull away, "Don't let me go," I said. He didn't. He held me as I tried to pull myself together. He asked me if I wanted to turn on my cell phone so that he could call me from the car. Of course, I agreed. A few minutes later, my phone rang and we talked about how all this was going a bit. We're both so confused. Trying to use the time to figure our relationship is the point of the separation. His concern is that our emotions are so tied up, it's hard for us to be objective. He's probably right. He asked about coming over Sunday and, of course, I agreed. He also mentioned that as soon as I told him my sister was willing to watch the kids on Saturday, he was ready to plan stuff for us.

"Why didn't you? I thought part of this was that we would go on dates and stuff...get reacquainted."

"It's only been three...three...has it been three? Hmm. It seems longer. Three days and I'm trying to do all this stuff, planning stuff to do together. We haven't given ourselves enough time yet to know what this is like."

"I know what this is like and I hate it!"

"I know, but we need the time to start working things out, if things are going to work out. If we just got back together and forgot everything, then things started going bad again, I don't think we'd recover from that spiral."

Honestly, he's right.