Don't look at it like it's forever.
Between you and me I could honestly say
That things can only get better

Elton John, "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
---
Days Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, and Twenty
Caught a red-eye to North Carolina, and spent the whole weekend with Heather.

I've often said that the true measure of a relationship isn't from the fantastic, memorable things you do together, but the mundane, forgettable things. I really used to be high maintenance; I was caught up in a metro lifestyle that I thought fit me, but in the end, feels kind of out of place. Much like the consumer-centric life that followed it, I'm no longer that person, but I think I took with me the spirit of those days. I don't want to ramble on about it. The crux of the matter is the fact that I've found real joy in the uneventful things that comprise the other 23 hours when you're not out on a fancy date. A lot of my favorite scenes in movies are about exactly that: Robin Williams explaining it to a naive Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, or the whole premise behind amnesiac tales like Memento or Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind.

It would be silly to list all of the memorable, innane things that have more value to me than anyone else. I guess all that I can really leave is pieces of advice, which is really just a method by which I try and prop the value of those memories.

And while I'm away
Dust out the demons inside
And it won't be long before you and me run
To the place in our hearts where we hide

It's Monday night in a hotel near the airport in Raleigh, and Heather is asleep. I know full well that this is probably one of the last hours I spend with her, so I understand the transcience of the moment. I knew that my time was finite. Before I continue, do you remember what the last thing was that you did before you fell asleep last night? For me, I leaned over and kissed Heather on the shoulder, whispered Good Night and fell asleep. I'm really hoping that if anything can be gleaned from my experience of the past twenty days, it's that you don't need to go bungee jumping or kayaking off a waterfall or RVing across country to lead a wonderful and fulfilling life. Can you look at me and honestly tell me that if you knew you were going to die in the morning, that you wanted your last memory to be in a kayak, or jumping off a bridge?

That seems really depressing, so I don't want to go delve too much into it. There really isn't a sense of finality or anything, but really that there is an enormous distance between here and there.

I initially wrote down a bunch of interesting side stories that I wanted to include in this blog, like my adventures on the red-eye between gotta-occupy-a-lot-of-space-girl and terrible-BO-guy. Ultimately, I felt that this blog is better served being the font of information you've come to expect.

[Merriam-Webster Online]