Day 1 (or the first thirty-one hours)

There is something about New York.  My inner core vibrates in tune with this place.  I cannot explain it, but I felt better immediately after crossing that border.  Things just… clicked back into place or something.  I cannot explain.  Except I am so incredibly happy to be back where I belong.  Maybe someday it will be a permanent shift.

I’m going to try to write every day, or every morning cause this trip is going to be epic, though tonight’s entry will be somewhat short cause I’m tired.

Left Grand Rapids on Friday at 8:30pm, only three and a half hours behind my desired schedule.  But it was mostly my fault so I didn’t care nearly as much.  Talked to my mom for  a while.  Talked to my cousin, Rebecca for a while, talked for Manny for a short while and talked to Megan through most of southeast Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  I was possibly going to stay in Ohio with my aunt but I was feeling good and driving was going extremely well.  So I barreled on through all the way to New York.  Well, to Erie actually and at that point I was less than an hour from Fredonia, my alma mater so I decided to just push through.  Got a hotel room in town and crashed hard. Woke up to excitable kids in the hallway and remembered yet again why I don’t work in hotels anymore.  Check.  Took a lovely hot shower and was out of the hotel room a little before eleven.  Went over to my old college haunts and walked around the music building.  Saw the new rehearsal spaces – beautiful – and scared a poor percussionist getting ready for his audition.  That was fun.  Saw Dustin and met his kids, who were less impressed with me.  Missed Marcie but maybe I’ll try to hit them up again next weekend on the way back.  Headed to Rochester and heard James’ natural horn recital.  I was so incredibly happy to see him, I felt like I was going to explode.  It was so much happiness.  I was in New York, seeing him and hearing him and just… well vibrating with happiness.  We talked for a time before and after the concert until he had to leave for dinner.  I went over to my aunt and uncle’s and caught up with them, went out to dinner and then hit the road again.  Pulled into my parents driveway about three in the morning.

Still vibrating with happiness although exhaustion is setting in.  I honestly expected the drive overall to be worse.  The weather was beautiful but I wasn’t concerned with that because I couldn’t do anything about that.  I would either cut visits short or take longer to get home.  Whatever.  But its a fourteen-hour, eight-hundred-plus mile drive all by myself.  In about a twenty-four hour time period.  So I took about thirty-two hours, but I expected to be more sore and stiff and sick of being in that car.  I expected to need/want to stop more.  Perhaps it was the call of my heart-land.

Anyways – let the insanity ensue.

Things to remember – My conversation with Settle today about going to Oregon for Jorge’s wedding.  The text Manny sent that started the conversation.  And then James making pretty much the same point Settle did only a few hours later.  I’m starting to be concerned.  More later.