Let The Pictures Do The Talking: A Road Trip, i

October 31, 2002

Boo leaned against my car and I sat at the base of the stairs. The maintenance guy who was supposed to meet me for the final walk-through of my apartment was 45 minutes late. I'd only just finished packing my car, but I had a long drive ahead of me and I wanted to get on with it.

I apologized to Boo for the holdup, but as usual she was very mellow about it all. Seven years younger and she was already more well-balanced than I would likely ever be. When I freaked out that there was no more room in my car for a final bag of clothes, Boo had the answer: throw the shirts on top of everything else loose. It seemed absolutely brilliant at the time because I was too anxious to think of it.

15 minutes later, the maintenance guy arrived full of apologies, and we walked through my apartment. He took a cursory glance around and said, "Looks better than when you moved in, right?"

The building had changed owners since I moved in, so the new management had never seen the initial state of my apartment. It happened to be true though, so I said, "Yeah." (Seemed like I could've skipped a lot of cleaning and still gotten my deposit back.) I turned in my keys, and Boo and I headed over to Jimmy John's for a quick bite.

We ate outside and Boo showed me more features of my new cell phone. It was my first which she had helped me pick out the night before when I was massively stressed out. I focused on the basics, "So the line is like the hook switch, right?" When I went to the restroom, she took my phone and programmed in her number with a special ring.

I looked over the directions she gave me for the scenic route to Asheville, NC.


Always a bit leery when someone says "you'll see what I mean."


The details in her directions amused me greatly
and made me think of her as even cooler.
I got a little misty saying goodbye but held it together- not so much goodbye as until next time. The sadness quickly subsided once I was on the road because leaving Tallahassee, FL felt so right. I would travel the country and find the perfect place for me to live.




(NEXT>>>)

One year ago at TTaT: The Neighbor's Cat