Sipping the Tea

"...when you are completely, perfectly, and incandescently happy."



I am determined, by any means possible, that I am going to make as much as a can with this Spring Break. Friday was fine- a little bland - Saturday was full of work, and Sunday was about the same and absolutely miserable! I had planned to come home after work too and clean the apartment so that nothing could stand in my way when I was ready to leave for home (Myrtle Beach) on Monday, but I ended up falling asleep and waking up at a ridiculously late hour. I cleaned the apartment as best I could and then hit the road.

It rained the whole way, and it's raining here now, but there was nothing - NOTHING - more delicious than running up my front porch - past the sign that says, "Welcome to our little paradise", and through my front door.

My house, on a side note, is a small townhouse. We have a very small front yard dotted with small flower gardens, and a small back 'plot' - as I call it - where we grow tomatoes in the summer. My home is nautical themed - boats, surfboards, solid reds and blues - because my Dad is still a Navy man through and through. The clean and cozy downstairs is very spacious, the kitchen, the living room, and the reading room (one of my favorite rooms of the house, lined with windows and furnished with comfortable chairs) are all opened to each other - there are no doors. My/my brother's old room upstairs has recently been repainted in a bright, seafoam green that I adore, and we moved all my childhood things - my daybed, my porcelain dolls, my keyboard and easel, as well as old drawings and some stuffed animals that couldn't make it to Rock Hill with me - to the smaller room.


The evening started out wonderfully with Gaiman (Lovelove) guest-starring on the Colbert Report. I was deliriously happy with that duo.

I turned unloaded my car after Colbert finished up, and then checked the fridge to see what we have. (My Dad is staying with his girlfriend in Williamsburg, VA right now- we are, of course, keeping this beloved home.)

There were a few useless items, an old carton of OJ, and no beer (?!?! beach and no beer!?). The cabinets were relatively bare of any quick food items to last me on my short trip. I was smart enough to bring my life-saver: tea.

So I went out and bought some necessities:

1.) Milk
2.) Bread
3.) Honey
4.) Juice
5.) Soup
6.) Ben n' Jerry's.
7.) Killian's Red

It was so strangely wonderful going to the grocery store. It's just across the street, connected to one of my favorite quick Japanese food places and my hair stylist.

The ocean is just down the road.

I came home, turned on the History Channel, and started washing some clothes. Then, I prepared dinner: chicken noodle, perfect for a rainy evening (yes, it was a late dinner, but it was a late day for me in general) and topped the soup off with a mug of tea. Settling in with my two stuffed lemurs - Azu and Luffy - and my favorite stuffed animal, Sarah (she's a large, neon green triceratops that my uncle gave me when I was two)

http://s5.tinypic.com/2a9qz3m.jpg

- I found a movie to watch - one that I can watch over and over again:

Pride and Prejudice.


I know. These little details seem very boring, but...

These are the little things, the familiar things, I miss when I'm at the university. I come home to the apartment after class and it's just not the same - the sea is miles and miles away. My bed is miles away. My front yard, my dad's big red chair, my red tea kettle, my greengreen room ....

You'd think that, after three years, I would be finished with homesickness.

It never goes away.

I have so many memories here: my friends camped out on the floor, girl-talk on the stairs, my Dad's roar of laughter, late-night counter-top talks with my best friend Katie, a thousand and one cups of tea...

I only have a day here. A day to visit old places and friends. It breaks my heart to pieces to know that on Wednesday I'll walk into work, miles and miles away from here, and have to forget, for a while, this place.

Driving down the road, driving home with rain slashing fast across the windows, I felt such a rush. The ocean, so close, freedom, so close... My heart felt like it was going to pound right out of my chest.

So Pride and Prejudice is over (I teared up again, even though I've seen it a hundred times or more) and I suppose I'll take a long, hot shower, and then crumple into bed and listen to the rain.

Goodnight, everyone!