before i hit the road

This is long because it'll probably be a while before I write again...

I got back home after midnight last night and my roommate was really happy to see me. She's always happy to see me, probably because I was her best friend this summer, but this time it was because she was worried that I was spending the night out and that she wouldn't get to say goodbye. We stayed up talking about stuff and trying not to get all emotional about it all. And this morning we left the house early to have a farewell breakfast. I didn't realize how much I would miss her until now. As much as I didn't initially like the idea of a roommate, we had a lot of fun together this summer and ended up closer than I expected. I was a little overwhelmed at first because she so quickly made me her friend and confidant, eagerly and honestly sharing all her ups and downs with me. We spent less than 2 months together and I'm sure I know her better than some of my MIT friends and vice versa, and it's not just because we were roommates. I guess I have been really fortunate to have a lot of amazing people come into my life and even better most of them are still around.

Anyway I decided it might be a good idea to start packing this morning since my parents will definitely be here tomorrow afternoon (my roommate kept laughing about me being in denial). Found my "lost" checkbook, the graduation card I never gave Nnennia :), all my ticket stubs/programs/etc from the summer that made me happy and/or sad including a fortune i kept from the kosher chinese restaurant i went to the first week my roommate came: "don't expect romantic attachments to be strictly logical or rational", realized I only ironed my clothes once this summer and never blow dried my hair, I had 7 pairs of black pants hanging in my closet and I only wore 1/8 of my summer wardrobe, and I reunited with my favorite radio station 92.9 and my brassrat.

Even though I was forced to frantically and sadly change my plans to be here this summer, and I didn't have/want a real job so I was poor most of the time overall it was the best unplanned, unwanted summer experience ever. I remember the day after my birthday-also the day my roommate arrived and locked me out by accident-I treated myself to all this pampering at my favorite nail salon and bought all these new dvds, and later that day I was embarrassed by the very large amount of money i had already spent in boston on things I didn't really need. Not just in June either but all school year with no job, and i definitely didn't have the income to support all my spending habits the entire summer if i was going to pay rent and eat too. Elliott and Cie Cie probably remember this sad "epiphany" of mine :) Instead of getting a 9-5 M-F job so I could spend whatever I wanted, I decided to keep my 12-3 T/Th job and go without. In fact I was laughing with someone about how my plan to grab some people to go see Mamma Mia with me tonight failed because I forgot I was poor. I'm amazed how much stuff I did with so little money.

Of course it would've been nice if I had walked in June with my friends, but I honestly don't regret having to stay in Boston. Maybe it was destiny because everything really did work out for the best and it was a great way to close this chapter of my life. When my roommate and I were talking about our favorite summer moments, we didn't talk about the big summer adventures...We remembered the small stuff like our girls' night in of partying and pampering and too much wine (and the mouse that crashed the party), getting lost in brookline, the first day she decided to go jogging and ended up running away from instead of towards boston common even though she had planned it out with maps, when the police raided our house, when I ended up a little drunk on the roofdeck after drinking a whole bottle of champagne for the 4th, when I went on a roadtrip to long island and ended up in Philly for 3 days with only my cell phone and purse, getting addicted to 24 and smallville with my housemates, doing housechores like the dishes even though I never used the kitchen all summer, my birthday disaster turned success, sleepovers and being comfortable enough to wake up not worrying about my hair or breath, going to see the opening of spiderman2 at midnight with half the people in our house, when i wasn't feeling so good and a friend went out and brought me breakfast, learning how to play rummy, when we discovered we had the game show network, the first night I got here and I let my family move me in while i hung out with friends downstairs, cape cod with my family, becoming a swim addict...Wow, I was busy :) I hope I don't get restless in Philly.