28.8.05

Left and Leaving

My travels have officially begun. On Thursday, August 18th I arrived at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. I checked in a little late for my flight, so my checked luggage didn't make it to me until Friday morning. But my trip began uneventfully except for that suitcase. It was, however, as all trips home are destined to be, busy, fast and more surprising than I thought it would be when I got off that plane.

During this trip I did the following things:

Spent time with my dad and my stepmother, who are such beautiful people. We had a birthday party for me since I will be gone in October, and I got fun gifts AND cake! So that was pretty cool. We also watched many fantastic episodes of the West Wing on DVD, ate lots of ice cream, ate Mickey Mouse pancakes and more of my favorite childhood meals.

Spent time with Steven Candy, who claims the honor of being my oldest friend. (He's like 94. No, he's not. Really, he's 24 as of next week. But mostly, we've kept in touch for 7 years, despite having lived in different cities for the past 6.)

Spent time with Philip, Ben and other Minnesota friends.

Spent time with my family! I have a really cool extended family. Jake took me and Tess and their exchange student Betina out to dinner in Uptown Minneapolis. Later that first weekend, Grace turned 12, and I was very happy to be there for the celebration. It was great to see people I haven't seen since my sister's wedding in January! Good timing with that birthday, Grace.

Spent some time on Square Lake in a canoe. Despite Philip's threats to tip over said canoe, the trip was a safe one. What would a trip to Minnesota in the summertime be without a canoe?!

Things I did not do on this trip:

Alas, I did not spend any time at the State Fair. Maybe we will meet next year, giant butter sculpture of Princess Kay of the Milky Way!

I did not make it up to Grand Rapids this trip, either, and I was sad not to see some people who are still up there.




Well, that was a very full and very busy trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. More complicated, more educational and more fun than I anticipated. I hope to visit again next year. In the meantime, I am flying back to New York tomorrow night. I will be in my favorite city (I missed you!) until September 10th. By the way, to those of you who go to Barnard or Columbia, we still have no host for that good-bye party, people. The clock is ticking and I am now officially homeless until the 11th, so one of you New York kids will have to issue the invitations. Or there will be no shortbread and whisky for you this Christmas from me in Scotland. That's right. Scotland. I'm repeating myself to make it seem a little realer... someone pinch me. I believe I may have lost feeling in the part of my brain that senses exhaustion, fear, anticipation, and all that other stuff I need for planning.

Which reminds me, I haven't packed yet...

Good-bye for another year, beautiful state of lakes, farms and pretty trees.

Hello again, enormous, glowing, beautiful city of my heart.

Shut up, I'll get to you in two weeks, super old completely unfamiliar and scary but exciting European capital city. I can't deal with you right now, I'm too busy with two old homes to think about the new one.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

so your leaving and I will see you there. Hopefully you will find a place to be before you go. thank you for the help. you are wonderful person and I hope you find the best of luck with the Laddies... I mean the men. Remember RED CLUB VODKA.

Have a good time

10:10 PM  

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