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11-22-00 // 12.47 am it's no sacrifice at all NP: Elton John - "Sleeping with the Past" So this afternoon I threw my backpack in the car, picked up my sister at her dorm, and drove up to my parents' house for the Thanksgiving break. It was a nice day out, blue skies and cold temperatures. Pulled into town mid-afternoon, which left enough daylight to unpack my things and then to take a walk around town. It's been six weeks since I've been up here, and about twice that long since I've hung around for more than half a day. That new bank at the south end of town is finally completed and open for business. They're pouring a sidewalk in front of those old houses across the highway from the old Shawnee Library System building. There's a big new subdivision going up on the north side of town...last time I was here it was just a huge dirt clearing. Now there are a few houses built and even more going up. It was just so great to soak up all the sights that are so familiar...and to see what's changing. So my parents eventually came home from work, it was good to see 'em. I hadn't seen my dad in person for about two months. And that one time was only for about a day, so it's been more like three months since we've sat down and really visited face-to-face. I hung around the house for a while, sat down and had some dinner. My father thoughtfully surprised me by having a six-pack of Guinness in the fridge waiting for me, so I sat down with a bottle and watched some TV with the family. My sister's boyfriend came by, then they left to go back to his place. Adam & Robyn came by around eight. It was so good to see both of them -- it's been entirely too long. Adam's hair is all braided and dreadlock-ish now...too bad he'll soon have to cut it for the Air Force. But I was glad to find out that the two of them weren't avoiding me -- Adam never responded to my instant messages since he was in the middle of Quake games, and Robyn said she just hasn't checked her email for several weeks. So we went to Denny's and just caught up on things, had some good conversations, etc. I've spent months upon years at university contiuously making and eventually losing friends...you don't know just how comforting it is to know that I have these two here for me, no matter what, no matter where we all end up. It may not seem like much, but it melts my heart to hear Robyn call me by my full first name...it makes me smile when Adam said he instantly thought of me when he watched "High Fidelity" a while back. I just wish he wasn't shipping out in a few weeks...I don't want things to change. So here I sit in what was and still is my room when I'm a resident in my parent's house. It's familiar, it's inviting, the bed is big and oh so comfortable. It's good to be home.
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