2004-07-31

I'm wide awake...I'm not sleeping

Well, Amanda left Wednesday. We packed up the last of her stuff in the morning and left for the airport at noon. Before we left we met at the Promenade, the main square area in front of the campus buildings, and all the faculty/staff came out to say good-bye. It was funny--we were taking pictures and Amanda and I were getting kinda cozy for some of them. Some of the extreme big-wigs--I'm talking about the president of the college among them--were giggling like little schoolgirls behind us. Very amusing, it was. Kinda cute too. John was leaving on the same day so we all went together. There was more room than we thought there would be, but they still had a lot of baggage. I was praying that we could get Amanda on the plane. One of her suitcases felt like it weighed almost as much as me. Dr. Tahara, the academic dean here, came along as a representative of the school, and Dr. White drove.

As many of you know, I'm extremely ticklish, and Amanda has developed an affinity for exploiting that weakness. She was doing so the whole drive to the airport, but I let her because it would be the last time she could do that for a while. I think we were making John uncomfortable or sick with our couple-ish displays because he kept on making cracks about "Don't be doing nasty things back there". I should feel bad 'cause I've been on the other side, being the single one among couples acting gross, but hey, I was gonna enjoy the last few moments we'd have together for a while.

Although John left on the same day, he was leaving from a different terminal so we dropped him off first. I shook his hand and helped unload a few of his boxes--yeah, he had a few. Dr. Tahara helped him with his things, which was good because it required two of those airport carts. Then we drove over to the next terminal where Amanda was leaving from. We parked the car and I helped her unload her things. Dr. White went to check on how John was doing so we went off to find the proper check-in line. Amazingly enough, there was hardly any line at the counter. Amanda had no trouble getting her ticket and bags checked, so we had a last bit of time together. We hung around the entrance to the security area for awhile, just talking about everything and nothing. There was a guy there with a big camera and we speculated on what he was doing there. It was just nice to talk and be with her. A good reminder of why we got together in the first place. Even though she was about to leave and we won't see each other for at least a few months, it wasn't a really sad time. I was really happy to be with her and grateful for the time we did have together. I had known this day was coming and had been wondering if getting together with her was the right thing to do. I didn't want her to get hurt and I knew saying good-bye would probably do just that to both of us. But the time we've had was so worth it.

So yeah, it came time to say good-bye. Tahara and White were both really good about letting me hang around the security point, waving good-bye until she disappeared around a corner. And that was pretty much it. We piled in the van and came back to campus.

The last few days have been something of a blur. I've basically been moping around the apartment missing her. She called on Thursday just after noon to let me know she got in okay. I guess her family met her at the airport so it was good fun. Sounds like she's enjoying getting caught up with people back home, but she said she misses me a lot. The feeling is very much mutual. I've sent a couple of emails and now it's just a matter of getting adjusted to being apart. I don't have any idea what will happen in the future, but we're gonna keep this thing going and see where it leads. I won't make any predictions beyond these: High phone bills (for both of us), and a lot of me babbling about her in emails and journal logs. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

If you see her, say hello