A flurry of faces and palces. Wanting to cling to moments with friends and family that I haven't seen for years and years.
In Seattle I first met up with my frail grandmother and her boyfriend. They got lost, and wandered around the airport until they found me a few hours later. We walked out to their car, and we made our way to a Denny's American Style Restraunt. While I munched on my country fried steak with gravy and hash browns, my grandmother's boyfriend Bob told me about his bad knee and all the medicine he has been taking for it. Doctors, medicine, drugs, medicare, problems, never listen to me, my bad knee, doctors.
After that, my friend Tanya and her new husband Matt picked me up and we went out to eat Mexican food. American-sized food, stuffed to the gills. Tanya and Matt recently moved back from Japan to America, in to the rhythm of life, starting to live a new way again. Moments spun around as we got a few beers and I got asked for ID I didn't have. Tips, bars, English conversation failing me.
Before I knew it, Cory passed the baton with Tanya and I was riding in his sportsy car towards his house to crash that night. I hadn't seen him in such a long time, and it was fun to slip back into that conversational tempo we used to have when we were both exchange students in Korea. Life continues.
The next day, Cory passed the baton quickly Yvonne. I met her at a supermarket, and we ate vegan sandwhiches and salmon soup. Yvonne's new boyfriend turned out to be someone I knew in college, and that kept the conversation afloat. After a quick conversation with her, she tossed me in the direction of my good friend Christina and Alisa. We walked around downtown a bit, eyeballed a youth hostel, got me a cheap $16 prepaid cellphone, and went out to eat at a fancy restraunt with german beer. They wanted ID again, time to dig through my bag to find my ID. The conversation and moments mangled together a bit like multiflavored icecream on a summer day. In moments I was off checking into a youth hostel and heading towards to sleep.
The next day I met my cool friend Nicky. When I left America he had just got married, and now he had two talkative young kids who couldn't stop showing me their cool toys. I helped him plan for a Movie he was trying to make for a festival. The actors came, the cameras rolled, the people did their magic things. Once again a blur of moments heading towards the next moment. With a couple of beeps my brother Ben was outside in his car, giving me a ride towards my small rustic childhood home.
{{To be continued...}}
