On Wednesday, March 30, 2004 around 5pm we pulled into Jed's parents house in CT. It took five days and 3,004 miles. It actually turned out to be 3,000 miles exactly from the highway on-ramp in Seattle to the highway off-ramp in New Hartford. Though, it may have been less if we didn't screw up a couple of times.
Jed's aunt and uncle own The Old Riverton Inn and made a ravioli lasagna that Jed's parents picked up. Such a good idea. Any way to add cheese to something already ridiculously cheesy is a good idea. It felt so good to eat a cooked meal instead of gas station or hotel or fast food. It also felt good to stretch and lounge.
Elvis Bartakamous Scattergood meets Maggie. Our little kitten has never had to socialize with other animals before. He has always been good with people, but we figured he would be a little skittish around Jed's sister's cat. Maggie was a stray and I call her owl face for the obvious reason. She is so cute and sweet and was very patient while Taki hissed and growled and hid. She even played with his toys in an effort to get him to join her. It took until Sunday, but I guess nine days in cramped space is enough. He finally came out and explored a bit. He played with his toys and even played with Maggie through the door.
On Thursday, we relaxed around Jed's parents' house. It felt great. We did some of the same on Friday, though we did wake up to have lunch with Joe and Jay from Litco. It was wierd to be back to a place where we had already said our goodbyes. Since Jed had said his goodbye for Seattle, we had to explain 50,000 times what was going on with Japan. At least we have something to look forward to. Joe and Jay were a blast, as always, and we visited a great little lunch spot in Borrington where they still remembered Jed's order.
Friday night we had dinner with Jed's parents. We had dinner with them most nights and it was always so fun. Lots of laughter, usually at my expense, but it was a good time. They like to eat therefore I love them. Actually, I love them anyway. I thought Jed was as perfect as they get, but his parents are unbelievable. They are patient, nice and easy to talk to. Anyway, enough of my sappiness.
Saturday morning was my family's turn. In many ways, I wish I had left my goodbyes as they had been in February. I held my nephew as he was falling asleep, I had a great dinner with my sister-in-law and roles were reversed as my mom witnessed me have a massive panic attack when I ran out of room in my suitcases. However, I could not visit home without seeing everyone. We had a brunch and I was in a bad mood. Then my mom acted like Jed was invisible as she had to ask me to ask him everything. She wasn't mad at him or anything; she is just like that. Tommy, my nephew was fun, though Joey wanted to play by himself. My dad locked himself in the garage with the dog, my brother fell asleep, Joey knocked Tommy over when he tried to play with his plastic easter eggs, and the rest of us didn't do much of anything.
Saturday night, Jed and I met our friends Marc, his wife Meghan, Joe, his wife Nadine, and Jay for sushi. We were supposed to meet Chuck afterwards at his house, but in typical Chuck fashion he was not there when we arrived. We had to wait outside for a good ten minutes, watching the television he left on through his living room window. Finally he showed up and we played all 12 rounds of Scattergories. Then around midnight, when we were hungry again, Chuck cooked up some awesomely delicious Bertucci's, including my favorite dish which is no longer on the menu.
Sunday I spent my mom's life savings at WalMart. I hated every second in that stupid store but got a lot of great stuff. The night was mellow and Jed and I just relaxed and enjoyed the cat's newfound adventure.
Monday was the goodbye day. We went to visit Jed's grandparents where Jed entertained us on the keyboard and his grandfather opened up a bit on his time as a pilot in the war. They live in the most amazing community and though Jed and I are far from elderly (in age, not action) we want to live there. Mom, pack your bags cause that'll be where you go. :) It's better than living with me anyway. Jed's mom and I pigged out on jelly beans, I said goodbye to my parents and we enjoyed one last dinner with Jed's parents before heading out to my friends Meghan and Jesse's for the night.
Later that night, Meghan and Jesse picked us up. It felt amazing to see Meghan again. I miss hanging out with a girlfriend, but especially her. She is my favorite friend to be judgemental with. It is good to have someone who you can spew anything on your mind to. The UCONN men's basketball team won the championship and we laughed at the news blowing a celebratory bonfire way out of proportion. It was great to know that there is nothing better to report on. We got a total of three hours of sleep before we had to wake up at 5:30am for our flight to Baltimore.
It rained every day we were in Connecticut, which further reinforced our severe hatred for that stupid state.
So, this entry was extremely boring as I realize that we really didn't do much in CT. But I will still make you all suffer as the third (and final) installment will be our day in Baltimore with Jed's little nephew Owen and our flight home (via Vegas!!!)
One month from today and Jed and I will be on our way to humid Japan!!!
Posted by karen at April 12, 2004 03:27 AMyou forgot the part about the easter bunny cake, and your brother cut the face out.
that was so great.
also, we were re-introduced to diet coke with lime.
also, it was the rainiest day in ct on record for one of those days.
and speaking of rain, i have yet to believe it's always raining here in seattle. i've seen mostly sunny days for the past 3 months.
Posted by: jed at April 12, 2004 04:21 AMso true jed. so true.
my brother did in fact remove the entire face from the easter bunny cake. worse, he did it in front of his children!
it rained and it sucked.
diet coke with lime is da bomb!
ps...never let me say da bomb again.
Posted by: Karen at April 12, 2004 05:00 PM