Back to the Five O'Clock World

More likely to be 6 or 7 o'clock world, but it's certainly not vacation. I've been meaning to write many times over the last 3 weeks (a few posts are still drafts that I should really look at when I get back), but it's hard to focus sometimes, especially when there's Hulu to watch. Hulu is about 2 or 3 days from being blocked temporarily on my computer just to restore my sanity.

So this was my last winter and "school" vacation and hopefully the last time I spend more than 3 or 4 days away from R. From now on, I get 10 days (give or take) a year and we will be traveling together. Vacation was full of great memories, both in NYC and Chicago. R and I spent every free moment together when I was in NYC and I think I did a good job of starting to make up for all the times she came out to the island to spend the weekend with me, only to sit there patiently as I slept for 10+ hours or read and worked most of the weekend away. She's a saint.

I spent the second half of my vacation in Chicago, which was also very good, but sadly, sans R. I missed Chicago a lot, and Evanston a lot too. I missed a lot of my friends also. I didn't get to do everything I wanted, or see everyone I wanted, and if you're one of the people I didn't get to see in Chicago and you're reading this, I am deeply sorry and hopefully I'll see you next time. It was great, but it would have been better still if R and I could have spent it together. A week and a half apart is far too long for us. I know there are couples at there who have to go through weeks or months apart, and I don't pretend to know how difficult that is, but this seems to be our limit now.

I will say one stand-out moment in Chicago, in addition to seeing old NU friends on New Year's Eve and seeing people I haven't been very good at keeping in touch with, was seeing Tom Cruise dancing to Ludacris in Tropic Thunder. I don't see very many movies anymore, and most of the movies I see are with R, who's not a fan of violence (which I have no problem with honey!), but that scene made the whole movie worthwhile. To me at least.

Tonight I went to the wedding of two good friends of mine, A&E (like the channel!), which was great. They're two people I'm proud to know and who I'm happy to be friends with for what will hopefully be a very long time. It was also the last day before I head back to NY and school.

Ultimately, it seems like weddings and vacation have a lot in common. Both aren't nearly long enough to spend the time you want with the people you want to. There were teachers and advisers I hadn't seen in years, and all we had was 5 or 10 minutes to talk. I've spent countless hours with so many friends in high school and college, just hanging out, never realizing that one day (and hopefully not permanently), our lives would become harder and harder to coordinate, that the time we'd taken for granted is now gone. I didn't even see my parents enough. It's a little sad, but at least I have R to spend all my time with. I am very lucky to have many amazing and wonderful friends in my life, but she is firmly my bestest friend for life. I should call a lot of you more often. It's probably a good idea.

R was in Florida this past weekend to celebrate her grandfather's 90th birthday and we spoke a lot over the weekend (as we've been doing ever since I left her side a week and a half ago) and when we spoke the day she was heading back to NY, she told me she wished she could have stayed longer. I wasn't sure what she meant, but I get it now. There's not enough time. There may never be enough time. Ideally, we should have had 6 weeks, everyone we know should have been on vacation too and Florida and Chicago would be minutes from each other. Then we could have spent the whole time together and maybe have come close to spending the time we wanted to with everybody. But this will have to do.

It was a great vacation, and an excellent way to finish off school vacations. Vacations will be a lot different now, better because they'll be with R, but not as easy because the time we have to spend with other people is less than it used to be. I guess it's just weird that only now have I figured out what I'll be missing.