Back in an airport
I wrote my last flurry of posts almost a week ago as I was headed across the country on a trip back to my alma mater to visit my old friends, classes, and tutors. And as I wrote those posts, I had such an energy and excitement that I now long for.
Because I’m now back in the airport, but it’s the return journey. The vacation is over; the fun has been had. And now all that remains is to go home—but I’m tired. Part of my exhaustion surely comes from the knowledge that when I go back to work tomorrow I’ll be on overnight shifts until after Thanksgiving. That’s tiring just to think about.
Of course I’m also suffering the mental exhaustion of having been traveling and doing fun things all week. On top of that there’s the physical exhaustion of catching a midnight flight and sleeping on the plane.
All that being said, despite my exhaustion, I am happy. My happiness has a couple of sources: 1) short term, I’m looking forward to buying breakfast in Dallas on my layover as soon as we land. I always like buying food in airports, even though it typically costs too much; and 2) I really will be happy to be home again. It’ll be nice to sleep in a real bed again and be able to store my clothes in an actual closet, not a suitcase; but also 3) over this past week I got to spend some really great quality time with my college friends. I hadn’t seen any of them since graduation, but our time together was excellent.
As a side effect of my insecurity, perhaps, I’m often unsure of how things will go with a relationship when a good bit of time has passed. In the space of even a few months, so much can change, you know? But during this whole trip, I only felt love from them, and they were excited that I was there. The whole week I never had the feeling that I was taking up too much space, or that my friends were just putting up with me. It felt like they truly liked having me visit, which felt really, really good.
So on my trip I got to refresh connections with old friends, see a couple friends who got married over the summer (and seem to be doing really well through it), and make some new friends as well. The freshman class at my school seems pretty cool. The last night I was there we played Murder in the Dark, and some of them were pretty brutal at it (that’s a good thing, btw).
Overall, this was a really good trip. Sure, it was a bit exhausting. But the connections I made and refreshed were so, so worth it. I can easily say that what I lack in energy now, I make up for with happiness and satisfaction.