Now I'm home.

12:30pm
Well, I'm between the first and second legs waiting for my next flight. I have my chai in hand and I'm ready to go.

This morning J went to work and commanded me to sleep in. Fine. I dozed a little but mostly just lied there until I dragged out of bed at 8. A shower, dress, hair, finish packing and I was set. I wrote J a Thank You note (I hope he finds it) and slid it under his pillow. Then I walked around his apartment, breathing it all in. I'm not sure when I'll be back but I hope soon. I suppose I could have gone for a run this morning, but J locked me in so I wasn't going anywhere.

J came to pick me up with some news about work which was exciting. He asked what I had been doing all morning so I told him. He chuckled at the thought of me breathing in his apartment.

We talked about how I have only been here 4 days (4 ½ but who's counting) but it seemed longer – in a good way. And we were busy during that time but not overly so. He calls it “J's Tours, Aloha style.”

We're now talking about him coming up to see me next, but possibly not until spring. So maybe I'll have to go down again this winter.

For now, I'm just waiting for flights, fighting back tears on occasion when I wonder when we'll see each other again, just getting ready to face the normal world again.

4pm -
Here I sit in Mpls Airport. Coming in from the south, the pilot had to circle around to the west side of the city to come in to land. What a joy, getting to see all of my city and all the colors.

The oranges and yellows were bright, even on this overcast day, shining their light for all to see – standing out amongst the greens and browns and reds. It was breathtaking. Imagine what it would have been like if the sun had been shining! Wow!

The trip here was okay. I had a window seat in front of an exit row, which limits my chair movement (not that I ever lean my chair back). I'm not one to do that because I hate it when people do it in front of me, which of course is exactly what happened. I'm not a fan of tight spaces anyway and plane are usually hit or miss. If I can stay with some personal space, I'm usually okay. But have someone in front of me push their chair back and suddenly things are tight.

So my defense is to sleep. Which is what I did, even though I hate sleeping on planes. But since I'm rereading Twilight to keep busy and I didn't have room to write, sleeping is my best option.

It kind of reminded me of when I'd sleep on the bus to games in High School. Your body is in an awkward half-sitting, half-leaning position; the jerking of the vehicle making your stomach swirl leaving you to wonder what it will be like when things come to a stop.

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One great thing about this trip is that I didn't bite off my nails while I was there. I did pick at them and think about it, but I held off.

I'm hoping I can keep that up. No scary movies for awhile, I guess. They look nice, and i hope I can keep it going.

Look at me becoming a girl. :) Just kidding, but I'm thinking it might be time to get my eyebrows done. I've always put it off, fearing I'd end up with pencil lines that I have to fill in with make up, but I've been noticing I have a few strays that could and probably should go away. Sheesh...I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

My flights got pushed to the right, as we say, so I'm getting in about four hours later than I had planned, so tonight will be a quick unpack and see if I need to do any laundry. I can't remember if I washed my uniform before I left or not – I don't think I did so I need to get that done and ironed. I feel a little guilty because I'm not quite like J when it comes to my uniform. He likes his heavy starched whiled I'm more of the wash, iron and wear kind of gal. Oh well, we have new uniforms coming so soon I won't be needing to worry about it much longer.

*sigh* That bittersweet feeling is coming again. One leg to go...then home again to my messy apartment and my awesome job.