Tuesday, August 15, 2006
(old post from the myspace)
So last week I snuck home. Snuck? Sneaked? Snooked? I think it's sneaked.
Whatever, I went home and I only told five people in Seattle. Mom, Alli, my little brother and sister and my friend Pam. One for every full day that I was home. It was all I could handle and I'm glad I limited myself even though there were other people who I would have liked to see (you know who you are).
It was a last minute trip anyway. Hannibal Lecter mice suddenly freed me from the lab (literally, but I can't explain that here). I called my mom nearly in tears. "Get me home, I can come home next week, get me home okay?"
I hate to seem ungrateful. Graduate school is fine lately except how it seems to be taking place under a giant bowl of hot sorghum syrup. The heat, the humidity, the way I can't seem to get anything to really take off in lab, the Hannibal Lecter mice. The so-very-far-away-from-home.
So a week later I was on a plane and by the time I was on my final connecting flight, Birmingham seemed like an elaborate dream. In fact, I slept most of the way to Seattle and when I woke up, Mt. Rainier was standing just outside of the plane window. We observed each other. He told me I looked tired. I told him I was really worried about his snow cover. He looked naked and his foot hills were completely bare. Global mountain denuding. But still, it was good to see him regardless of his lacking modesty.
Momma Jo was there to greet me when I got off the plane. She looked great. Then home to Capital Hill. The city was all shiny eyes and teeth, definatley showing off for me. Every inch was green, temperate, and full of punk kids in subarus (subari?). After homemade mom food and a nap I hooked up with Alli for a Sunday afternoon of total Seattle indulgence. But I couldn't stop laughing. I honestly had to stop on the street to double over and laugh and laugh.
I haven't seen a summer in Seattle in two years. It's soooo cute. Men drinking water out of platypus bottles, with microbrew beer guts and $2,000 bicycles. 30-something punk couples, covered in tattoos, pushing babies in $1300 strollers. Neurotic white ladies marching around capital hill in giant gortex sunhats and long sleeves. All of them, I missed them all.
We walked to volunteer park and watched the people in the park tell their children to "use your words!" and to "try to be more considerate". Snort!
One little girl and boy had two daddies or maybe a Dad and a Poppa. Everyone in the family looked really happy. Ahhhh.
Then off to Liberty. Not "the pursuit of" but Seattle's latest...okay Southerners, you are going to love this...Cocktails, Sushi & Espresso Bar. That's actually how they bill themselves. It was great. We drank some kind of insanely alcoholic drinks and ate little veggie sushi bites with mango in them. Our bartender looked like Ricky Martin and when he told us he was originally from Puerto Rico we tried not to giggle. But he made a mean cocktail and we got to taste all kinds of numbly drinks from the leftovers in his shaker.
Floating out of Liberty and down 15th all I could do was grin like a fool. People were staring. I didn't care. There were still five days left before I had to leave again. It didn't get better than that and as with most trips home; it was much harder at times.
So there is the best moment, not because of my cocktail buzz but because of the everything. The absolutely everything. My best friend is chattering away at me and I know that my mom is looking forward to seeing me walk through her front door in a few hours. My little sister is waiting for my call. The weather is cool enough in the early evening for a light sweater. And there are five days stretching in front of me. I will be hugged every day. I will not have to explain that I am a vegetarian. I will not be the only woman without makeup. I will not stick out in any unfamiliar ways. I am home.
(old post from the myspace)
So last week I snuck home. Snuck? Sneaked? Snooked? I think it's sneaked.
Whatever, I went home and I only told five people in Seattle. Mom, Alli, my little brother and sister and my friend Pam. One for every full day that I was home. It was all I could handle and I'm glad I limited myself even though there were other people who I would have liked to see (you know who you are).
It was a last minute trip anyway. Hannibal Lecter mice suddenly freed me from the lab (literally, but I can't explain that here). I called my mom nearly in tears. "Get me home, I can come home next week, get me home okay?"
I hate to seem ungrateful. Graduate school is fine lately except how it seems to be taking place under a giant bowl of hot sorghum syrup. The heat, the humidity, the way I can't seem to get anything to really take off in lab, the Hannibal Lecter mice. The so-very-far-away-from-home.
So a week later I was on a plane and by the time I was on my final connecting flight, Birmingham seemed like an elaborate dream. In fact, I slept most of the way to Seattle and when I woke up, Mt. Rainier was standing just outside of the plane window. We observed each other. He told me I looked tired. I told him I was really worried about his snow cover. He looked naked and his foot hills were completely bare. Global mountain denuding. But still, it was good to see him regardless of his lacking modesty.
Momma Jo was there to greet me when I got off the plane. She looked great. Then home to Capital Hill. The city was all shiny eyes and teeth, definatley showing off for me. Every inch was green, temperate, and full of punk kids in subarus (subari?). After homemade mom food and a nap I hooked up with Alli for a Sunday afternoon of total Seattle indulgence. But I couldn't stop laughing. I honestly had to stop on the street to double over and laugh and laugh.
I haven't seen a summer in Seattle in two years. It's soooo cute. Men drinking water out of platypus bottles, with microbrew beer guts and $2,000 bicycles. 30-something punk couples, covered in tattoos, pushing babies in $1300 strollers. Neurotic white ladies marching around capital hill in giant gortex sunhats and long sleeves. All of them, I missed them all.
We walked to volunteer park and watched the people in the park tell their children to "use your words!" and to "try to be more considerate". Snort!
One little girl and boy had two daddies or maybe a Dad and a Poppa. Everyone in the family looked really happy. Ahhhh.
Then off to Liberty. Not "the pursuit of" but Seattle's latest...okay Southerners, you are going to love this...Cocktails, Sushi & Espresso Bar. That's actually how they bill themselves. It was great. We drank some kind of insanely alcoholic drinks and ate little veggie sushi bites with mango in them. Our bartender looked like Ricky Martin and when he told us he was originally from Puerto Rico we tried not to giggle. But he made a mean cocktail and we got to taste all kinds of numbly drinks from the leftovers in his shaker.
Floating out of Liberty and down 15th all I could do was grin like a fool. People were staring. I didn't care. There were still five days left before I had to leave again. It didn't get better than that and as with most trips home; it was much harder at times.
So there is the best moment, not because of my cocktail buzz but because of the everything. The absolutely everything. My best friend is chattering away at me and I know that my mom is looking forward to seeing me walk through her front door in a few hours. My little sister is waiting for my call. The weather is cool enough in the early evening for a light sweater. And there are five days stretching in front of me. I will be hugged every day. I will not have to explain that I am a vegetarian. I will not be the only woman without makeup. I will not stick out in any unfamiliar ways. I am home.
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