You Plan for Rain and Then Out Comes the Sun
Well, you plan for rain and you get the sun.
After all that pooh-bahing, anxiety, and having a moment of subconscious block, where I realized at the last minute I was planning on leaving for the airport about 45 minutes later than I should be, I ended up having a GREAT time with my family in Chicago.
I loved Josh's place in Evenston. On the first afternoon I was there, I got a rare treat of going on a long walk with Josh through the town and the Northwestern campus. No small talk to be found! It was like the universe was conspiring to give me exactly all the pieces that I craved with my family. I was the only family member to stay with Josh and his wife, Heather, which meant lots of late night talking over a delicious gin and tonic. And then more early morning talking over coffee. There wasn't any skirting the issue or verbal postcards from life. There were moments of real disclosure.
During the PhD graduation, I sat next to Josh's mom, Pam(my sorta stepmom), who surprised me by bawling through the ceremony. Apparently, I am not the ONLY emotional one after all! I then surprised myself by beaming with absolute, genuine pride, watching my stepbrother go through the final step of an amazing accomplishment. It took him eight years of hard work to get here, and as I watched his advisor Bill proudly hood him with the purple velvet strip of fabric, I was so grateful I could be there to witness it.
Other highlights of the trip included the best bbq I've ever had outside my folks' backyard; going on an amazing architectual tour of Chicago on a river boat, and seeing some of my favorite Georgia O'Keefe paintings, and one of my favorite Edward Hopper paintings.
At dinner on Saturday night, we sat with the four people Josh has become really close to--his colleage Sharon, and her husband Dan; His advisor Bill, and his wife Marcia. All were anthropoligists, and all regailed amazing, funny stories about being in other countries doing research. Amazing stories about emergency flights from villages in a helicopter and flights to Moscow from Siberia, and how an intense amount of vodka saved Josh from food poisoning. As he laughed, retelling yet another story of his life, all the people around him laughing and beaming, I realized that he has a good life. I also realized that this is the most I would want for anyone I loved.
When I left I said good bye to Pam and started crying. "Oh, don't do that!" She said and shooed at me before hugging me goodbye. I didn't feel so dumb or emberassed, because she was tearing up too, that ol' softy.
I flew home excited to see Graham, one of the many things that make me know that I have a good life too.
After all that pooh-bahing, anxiety, and having a moment of subconscious block, where I realized at the last minute I was planning on leaving for the airport about 45 minutes later than I should be, I ended up having a GREAT time with my family in Chicago.
I loved Josh's place in Evenston. On the first afternoon I was there, I got a rare treat of going on a long walk with Josh through the town and the Northwestern campus. No small talk to be found! It was like the universe was conspiring to give me exactly all the pieces that I craved with my family. I was the only family member to stay with Josh and his wife, Heather, which meant lots of late night talking over a delicious gin and tonic. And then more early morning talking over coffee. There wasn't any skirting the issue or verbal postcards from life. There were moments of real disclosure.
During the PhD graduation, I sat next to Josh's mom, Pam(my sorta stepmom), who surprised me by bawling through the ceremony. Apparently, I am not the ONLY emotional one after all! I then surprised myself by beaming with absolute, genuine pride, watching my stepbrother go through the final step of an amazing accomplishment. It took him eight years of hard work to get here, and as I watched his advisor Bill proudly hood him with the purple velvet strip of fabric, I was so grateful I could be there to witness it.
Other highlights of the trip included the best bbq I've ever had outside my folks' backyard; going on an amazing architectual tour of Chicago on a river boat, and seeing some of my favorite Georgia O'Keefe paintings, and one of my favorite Edward Hopper paintings.
At dinner on Saturday night, we sat with the four people Josh has become really close to--his colleage Sharon, and her husband Dan; His advisor Bill, and his wife Marcia. All were anthropoligists, and all regailed amazing, funny stories about being in other countries doing research. Amazing stories about emergency flights from villages in a helicopter and flights to Moscow from Siberia, and how an intense amount of vodka saved Josh from food poisoning. As he laughed, retelling yet another story of his life, all the people around him laughing and beaming, I realized that he has a good life. I also realized that this is the most I would want for anyone I loved.
When I left I said good bye to Pam and started crying. "Oh, don't do that!" She said and shooed at me before hugging me goodbye. I didn't feel so dumb or emberassed, because she was tearing up too, that ol' softy.
I flew home excited to see Graham, one of the many things that make me know that I have a good life too.
Labels: family
posted by Summer Pierre at
4:37 PM
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