Cute like the smart girl

I am insanely tired. This is probably in part due to catching a 7 am flight, which necessitated getting up long before o'dark early.

Last night was a lovely dinner at Siam House, Chuck's favorite. Poor Tim - I haven't seen him in at least 7 years, he gave me a hug and a kiss, during which my utter lack of poker face gave away that I couldn't figure out who this person was, who was kissing me. I figured it out quickly, fortunately, and it was truly wonderful to see him.

Today on the plane I was surrounded by teachers who are doing some kind of Fulbright thing where they go to Japan for 3 weeks. They were from all over the country, though the woman who was sitting next to me was from Bloomington. It is a small, small world.

I was melancholy when I got home, so I went to the Harker School fall picnic, which was lovely. I got to geek out with my friend Phil and his friend Brian, hang out briefly with my friend Dave, and hug Robb, who was leaving when I saw him. I didn't see Heather at all, which might be because there were approximately 10 million people there. By the time the exhaustion hit, I was feeling much better.

Now I am home, have had nap, grocery trip, dinner, Perl homework and quiz dispensed with, relaxed, and partly unpacked. There were some other things that were to be done, but they will have to wait. (Note to mrcozy: Didn't have the soup, but did have yummy dinner.)

There was a moment on the plane when I regretted leaving, but for the most part I feel like I made the right choice. I regret missing out on tonight's reminiscence and I was thinking through people I never see who are likely to be at the funeral, such as Doug Grover, whom I'll miss. I'm sad I didn't get to see Sasha and Kevin. But my experience of Chuck was also unlike many others and my feelings are muddled in some ways by being with everyone else - I'm doing more processing on my own than I would if I were there. The greatest factor, of course, is that I'm learning I just can't do everything. Not for the world would I give up hosting Shari's shower on Thursday and being there for her in the days leading up to her wedding on Saturday. I feel about Shari the way others feel about Chuck and there isn't enough time to meet both commitments.

This is the first time I've ever stayed overnight in this house alone. It is weird. Not scary, but there are all these things I don't know. How much coffee is the appropriate amount for one person? How do I set the coffee on a timer? I hope to have figured both of these out.