The trip, she is over. I’m sitting in the airport in Philly waiting for my plane to arrive so it can depart. Expected was tons of traffic and crowds and lines and problems. Experienced was no traffic and 5 minutes elapsed from the front of the airport to my gate, including security.
The trip was pretty decent. Got to spend plenty of time with my family, most of which I never see. We had a big 4th of July party on on Saturday and about 48 people showed up. Most were from my stepfather’s side of the family but I knew a few of them so that was cool. I threw my stepbrother Barry bodily into the pool to the cheers of the crowd. Aparently he does it every year to someone and payback has been due for many moons.
Sunday Civvy (sister), Dave (her husband), Chris (brother), Tyler (his son), Adam (brother), Susan (his wife) and me (me) went to Ocean City, NJ which is “The Shore”. We ate everything. Mack and Manco’s Pizza, Kohr Bros. Ice Cream, Rita’s Water Ice, Curly’s Cheese Fries and a cheese steak from some place that was really great. Did some swimming and some body surfing in the freezing cold ocean and did a little tanning in the not really that hot sun. I haven’t been in the ocean for… a long time. Don’t even know. It’s been years. I think the last time I was at the beach was with Kelly years ago and I don’t think we actually went into the water.
Today we went and saw my grandmother, on my father’s side. Haven’t seen her in years and years too. That was nice, and we got to hang out for an hour or so before I had to jet off to the airport. Before jetting off though we took a drive a little further down the road and saw the house I was born in. Or at least lived in when I was born. I was born in a hospital just like you. I had absolutly no memory of the place, which isn’t surprising because we moved to Maine and then Florida pretty much as soon as I was born. I did take a picture of it, just for the hell of it.
So that’s that. I was surprised at how much things have changed since I left. People are old, landmarks are gone, hell, people are gone. This trip pointed out to me just how much Kansas is home now. I miss my house, my dog, my friends and just generally my life. A lot of people I know talk about “going home” when they mean going back to see their parents, or going to where they grew up. When I refer to home it’s when I am talking about heading back to Kansas. This trip was a trip “back to Jersey”.
This week should be pretty great. It’s a short one, to begin with, which is always nice. Got a few concerts, gonna try to get my car the rest of the way fixed, and I’m gonna sleep in my own bed. Or preferably yours. Man, I need to get a girlfriend.
Oh, I need to tell you an embarassing story. On the way out I was boarding my first flight in Philly. I got on the plane and my seat was alllllllll the way in the back. The very back seat. I get back there and there is a black guy (this is important in this story, settle down) sitting in the window seat and I’m in the aisle seat. I sit down and say “Hi there” and he says “Hey. Back row eh?” and before I even think of what I am saying I say “Yea, back of the bus for us.” And then I died of embarassment. What I was thinking, when I said that, was high school and sitting in the back of the bus where all the cool kids sat. I certainly wasn’t talking about segregation and I don’t think he took it that way but man I felt like an ass.