'Cause nothin matters in the whole wide world...

Well. What a three weeks this has turned out to be.

From National Parks and family to Spring Training and Phoenix to Vegas last night and Colleen on an airplane today. I'm writing this from my apartment, oddly quiet and dark in comparison to what I've become accustomed to over the past three months.

Exhausting would be a good word to describe how today went...in fact, when I saw my boss and she asked how I was, I told her "Awake. And that's just going to have to do for today." She laughed, which I appreciated.

Today was a tough day, up early, dropping Ms. Earp off at the airport, and heading to work sans breakfast. Thankfully, there was some granola in a mason jar in my classroom to munch on, and my handy Keurig to pump coffee out into my brand new Spring Training Arizona 2013 coffee mug. After work, it was softball practice and then home. I was missing Colleen all day, but it didn't hit me until I walked in tonight. It was kind of like Brad Paisley's "Fishin Song" (conveniently done in Camden, NJ)...except not as hilarious. And I'm genuinely excited for Colleen to be home with her family and friends, to be going back to a job she enjoys and another job she loves, and for her exciting news about New Orleans and the opportunities that exist there. So mostly it was like that song in that he realizes that when he gets home it'll hit him that she's gone.

But Colleen isn't gone with a capital G. She's just elsewhere. And we have a relationship that can confidently support the divergent geography that we currently share.

Hey. Ain't no thing. Just a very, very long day full of granola, coffee, and dirt from a softball field.

OH. And a sub. A real one. From Jersey Mike's...we found one in Vegas.

I walked into the sub shop and asked for a whole # (I don't remember). The kid behind the counter looked at me like I'd walked in, removed my pants, and thrown them in the air. So another employee took over, made the sandwich with just a few confusing questions (HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE A SUB?!). As I paid out, I told her that the questions confused me...back east, you walk in, tell them "half a #4" and in 2 minutes there's a sandwich in front of you. She explained that she was from Camden, and that she gets it.

Ate the sub for lunch...split it with a coworker. Needless to say, it was a hit, a real sub made on correct bread and in proper fashion. I'm overly excited about this, yes, but there just aren't any good sub places out here. It's not a thing.

Another reason to want to come back east, and another reason to be excited about the summer.

I've decided to stay here for another year. Arizona, while trying, has treated me well, my coworkers are great, and I'm lucky enough to be doing a job I love. I wish it were closer to home...there are a lot of things about the east coast that I miss, including family and friends, and porkroll, and subs.

(At least I listed you all before the food...but be honest, you'd miss those things too.)

11 weeks until I'm home...