Date: 2004-07-03
From: Baltimore

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Tonight I¢m at home. I went to have Chinese food with my parents, my sister Courtney Melissa, and my cousin Joe. I also chilled at the beach with my mom and relaxed. She didn¢t even mention how silly my hike is and how it is a complete waste of money. OK, the last sentence is a blatant lie. Still, on the whole it¢s nice to be home this evening.         I awoke this morning at Doug¢s house to an awesome breakfast of bacon & eggs. It was 10 a.m. by the time I was finished. I decided it would be pointless to hike for 3 hours and then have my Dad pick me up, so I called him to pick me up at 2 p.m. in Gettysburg. In the meanwhile I thanked my awesome hosts for an incredible time. People like Doug, Jessica, Nate, Kate, and Audrey are what make this hike such a special experience. For the rest of the morning I chilled with Audrey. We talked and played with McKenzie (who now is not calling me ¢daddy¢) as well as a neighbor¢s kid and a friend of Jessica¢s child who Jessica is watching. It was so nice to be on a porch with kids around, nothing to do, and wonderful conversation with a beautiful girl. Who says zeros are pointless? (That¢s 32)        During the morning Audrey found out she is going to get a new apartment of her own. That should help with avoiding ¢fun¢ situations like last night¢s :-). (See yesterday¢s journal). Before I left I thanked everyone again for being so amazing. I also made sure to get everyone¢s number. I would love to visit all of them again. Audrey drove me to Gettysburg to meet my dad and we had another wonderful conversation on the ride out. It is decided that if I return a visit to the ¢Apple Museum¢ is a must; sweet! It¢s a good thing I did not immediately lose the paper I wrote her phone number on¢¦Oh, wait, I did. When we arrived at the Sheetz Gas station I said goodbye as I saw my Dad and Uncle Tom drive in.        It took my dad at least 4 whole minutes before a pun with the word ¢Sheetz¢ was uttered. I love my dad! My Uncle Tom really wanted to go to ¢Roy Rogers¢ for lunch so we pulled in on the way home. As we ate I talked about my hike, sports, and other assorted topics, when I felt my stomach rumble. On the trail you can experience the jot of flatulence anywhere and no one cares. My mind was still on the trail¢¦so there in my Roy¢s seat I farted. The funny thing about hard plastic booth seats is that they amplify sound¢¦a lot. My uncle looked completely embarrassed as half of the restaurant stared over. I just laughed. Ahhh. So nice to be visiting my home again.        While I joked about my talk with my mom earlier, it was nice. We talked about a great deal of very real things, even though I did not always want to hear what she had to say. For the first time I was able to truly convey some of why grad school was so tough and just how much I need to be on this hike. On some things we agreed to disagree. While difficult to talk, I know my mom loves me and she seems ready to let me make my own mistakes. Gosh, I¢d really like to think that everything I¢m doing is not a mistake.         Tonight I¢m falling asleep on my favorite couch with my Golden Retriever Destin near me. I found out that my mom hates the beard. Tomorrow I will go to my church for the first time since I left. I have been craving visiting my home church for so long. It is also likely I will see the girl there who I crushed on for 5 months before the hike, but never told since I knew I would be leaving. For now, however, I will go to sleep on this couch. Ahh! Goodnight, BEATBOX   ttt