thank heavens for old friends

A good college friend of mine came into town last weekend (I know it's practically next weekend already - I've been blog slacking!). Darrel and I lived together with a bunch of other crazy kids during our sophomore and junior years at college. I have to be honest and admit that I was a little bit stressed about hosting him for the whole weekend as my weekends have become precious time set aside for getting to see Joe. In fact, I was so stressed about it that I ended up crying on the phone to Joe for about 1/2 an hour, just before Darrel's train pulled into town - sometimes the stresses of being in a semi-long distance relationship wear me down - I'm not proud of that :(. In any case all this is to say that having Darrel here for the weekend was such a blessing. As soon as Darrel hopped in my car, he could tell that I wasn't feeling great (my red, teary eyes might have given him a big clue :)) and it didn't take more than a few minutes for me to feel comfortable pouring my heart out about how hard a semi-long distance relationship with a partner in an intense grad school program can be. I'm afraid that I must sound like a completely ungrateful, unappreciative person by focusing on what is hard about my relationship with Joe instead of focusing on how much better life is with him in it, but in my attempt to be strong through a stressful situation, sometimes I don't allow myself the opportunity to express my true feelings and boy did it feel good to pour it all out. Darrel was an incredible listener over dinner that evening and made me feel like I wasn't crazy for feeling as stressed over a good thing as I was.

We spent the weekend sleeping in until 10am ( I never do that!), listening to the pouring rain outside, making the most delicous banana bread, shopping with Kat for some bridal shower supplies, hosting an impromptu pasta dinner with a few friends before heading off to Laura's concert, walking the dish, watching college bball, making pizzas and just catching up and talking about life. I admire Darrel's drive in his professional life and his willingness to continue to reflect on life in order to grow. Between the converstaion and the break from my usual routine, the weekend ended up being so rejuvenating. Here's a few pics...