Goodbye to:
This past Saturday I took my last trip to Chicago for the next ten months. And it was lovely. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too warm. My day started with the train ride into the city. After I got on the train, a boy from the grade school I attended got on the same car as mine (Paul Roycroft). He was with his family and I chatted with him for about two minutes. Once I arrived in Chicago, I met up with my friend Rachel, also met her in grade school. She said while she was waiting for me (since I told her the wrong time), she ran into a couple who are parents of someone else we went to grade school with (the Houstons). We had breakfast together, me and Rachel, and it was wonderful. Rachel is the person you can not talk to for months or even years, and it would be as if you saw her yesterday. I learned about her crazy and wonderful family and her upcoming wedding. I told her all about what I know about my future. She walked me to the El and we said good-bye for at least a year.
I took the El up to Bryn Mawr, and as I was walking on the platform, noticed that a girl I went to college with was sitting and waiting for the train to take her back into the city. So we chatted for a few minutes and told her I would visit her apartment next July. The afternoon was then filled with Andy and Heather, so it was amazing. We dyed my hair, again, and had a good lunch and watched Lord of the Rings. After the good afternoon, I took the bus back into the city and was supposed to transfer to another bus. The first bus was late getting in, so I had to run from Michigan and Jackson to Olgilvie station in about 20 minutes. Apparently the new Batman movie was being filmed downtown and somewhat had to run through that. Somehow, I made it on the train on time. While I was looking for an empty seat, I then think I saw another person I went to college with! But since I didn't really want to talk to him (if it was him), I just continued walking. After many full cars, I came across a car that was near empty and sat down and relaxed. Oh Chicago, you are so big, but yet I still run into people when I am there.
Last weekend was Andrea and Dan's wedding, and it was the most catholic, non-Catholic wedding I have ever been to. The first wedding I attended was quite a shock to me. Why was it only 15 minutes? Wasn't there months of planning put into this one day, and it all revolved around this ceremony. Later I was talking to someone, and they had commented how Catholic weddings are so long. So for the first Catholic wedding I attended, I made myself comfortable, I was ready for a few hours. Again, to my surprise at a wedding, it was only an hour. It was only a mass with a few vows put into it. We still celebrated the Eucharist and there was a wedding. Dan and Andrea's wedding was great, there were three readings plus the gospel reading and a Homily. While there was no Eucharist, there was lots of singing and of course the vows. It ran about an hour. Maybe it felt short because I was about to sob the entire time, because it was so beautiful, because two of my friends are starting their lives together.
The reception was also wonderful. We spent most of Saturday getting the hall ready. It started out as the church's basic hall and turned into a beautiful hall for a wedding reception. The tables were decorated with brown table cloths, and each had a picnic basket. Inside the picnic basket was a pink and white checkered cloth with excellent Rose wine. Around the basket were the wine glasses that Andrea spent the entire summer collecting and decorating. Everyone said it was a very clever wedding favor. The food was great, the pie was better, and my toast was written a during the reception. And by written I mean I made notes on a notecard. We saw them off with bubbles and a light rain. Oh goodness, there is another Mr. and Mrs. Jarratt in this world, lovely!
Chiggers seem like nothing compared to what I am experiencing right now. First off, if you don't know what chiggers are, they are small bugs that usually live in tall grass and if you traipse through it, they will bite you. The problem is that you don't know they are biting you until you a take a shower the next day and find small red, extremely itchy red bumps in really awkward places. Anyway, I have an itch to go somewhere. When I am at home and am not working it gets really boring. Yeah, I am supposed to be cleaning out my room (which is no fun since I am not moving out, just moving to Germany. That means two suitcases. If you have ever seen the amount of stuff I have, that is a small amount of what is in my room). Saturday night I made lime squares for my family. The next day my brother ate half of the pan. Tonight, I made rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb, mainly because I just wanted to, it gave me something to do. Luckily, tomorrow I am working and Wednesday I leave until Sunday to celebrate Dan and Andrea. I am just a restless person, I like having things to do, places to be, it keeps me feeling occupied. I guess I will just see how working 12 hours a week is really going to be this coming year. Eeep.
Words & music by paul simon
Old friends,
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown though the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends.
Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
Sifting through trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends.
Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.
Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears
Sitting on the floor, sharing stories that are interwoven, remembering being a high schooler, and laughing at all of this combined is where I am right now. Someone on the train asked me what I "did." And right now, I don't "do" anything and it is pretty great. It is still hard to just enjoy having time that is not planned out, but being reminded that even if a story was seven years ago, it can still feel like it just happened and it can also embarrass you, which makes you grin even more. Is this song sad? Or somehow uplifting and comforting?
