I'm sorry to keep doing this, because I think it's sort of a cop-out, but I'm going to copy and paste a letter that I wrote my parents last night instead of writing a blog post. It's 10:08, but in Cincinnati time it's 11:08, and I'm tired from sitting in the car and doing nothing all day. So. Here goes. And I'll try to be better about posting in the future...
Good evening, my lovely family!
(Ma, would you mind forwarding this to all concerned? I don't think I have the proper updated email addresses...)
It's near midnight here in Cincinnati, but I wanted to write you all an update before I return to the busy land of Wheaton tomorrow afternoon/evening. It's currently 25 degrees here, which means that it's finally colder in Ohio than in Illinois. Throughout the week I've been comparing temperatures between the two (namely between Cincinnati and Chicago) and I believe that this is a first. Mostly I just wanted to mention it so that you will all shudder and think of your brave little soldier, and be very grateful (as she is) that she has found a properly silly-looking warm winter coat. And for only $75! I was prepared to pay nearly 200 for one because I thought that was going to be the best I could do. But as Aunt Betsy said, somebody else was shopping with me today. (cue: upward pointing.)
Which brings me to my point. Today was a wonderful day. I think that because school has forced me to "go with the flow"/be flexible/expect the unexpected so much, I've stopped thinking ahead to how I'll feel when a future event will take place. Usually the future is just too abstract and uncertain to even think about. In any case, I wasn't expecting to feel as overjoyed as I did when I opened the Cunningham's door and saw Aunt Betsy on the doorstep. She wrapped me up in a big hug and that encompassing feeling of love didn't let up once throughout the day. Because there was only so much room in their car, our numbers were limited to five for most of the day: Aunt Betsy, Chris, Kiera, Beau and I ate lunch at Olive Garden before facing the cold and crowds of the outlet mall. We shopped around there for quite awhile. I found my coat at our second stop, and we shopped for the others the rest of the time. Aunt Betsy needed some 'items' from Maidenform (and Hanes, when the afore-mentioned failed) and walking around those stores with Beau was quite possibly my favorite part of the day. I found him at one point, standing before a rack of bras, pushing one cup in at a time with his pointer finger and saying, "Push in, push in. Push out, push out." So I brought him over to the basket of socks and we talked about argyle and cheetah-print for awhile. At one point he looked off into the distance and said, with great weight, "I've never seen fuzzy underwear. They're very...... rare." Anyway. We also went into a Lindt store and picked out some chocolate, and got some coffee in the food court. Aunt Betsy's coffee was too strong so she put honey in it. Not sure if this was a midwestern thing or not, I said I'd never seen that before - she shrugged and said, "Me neither." I assume it was alright, because she drank it. I didn't ask for a sip, though.
After we left the outlet mall, we spent a few hours driving around while Aunt Betsy pointed out numerous family-historic sights. I saw the house where Ami and Papa lived for two years after they were married, down on Chickataw Street. And just behind it, joined by one fence between their yards, was the house where Papa's parents lived. I also saw the high school where Papa and Grandpa Emerson went. Oh, and Ami's high school, which is ridiculously beautiful. (I actually was talking to her on the phone when we drove past it.) I saw the library where Ami worked - the one she talks about all the time, where Edris and Somebody Redner worked, and where they hung the art that she painted for them. We drove out to the house where they grew up, the house where Aunt Betsy was born. I remember Ami saying that when she and Papa were dating, he used to come over and wait for her (while she finished getting ready) downstairs in the living room, where Betsy would climb up on his lap and talk to him. I saw the church where Papa and Ami were married. It was such a surreal sort of thing, being in all those places we've heard so much about. Cincinnati is so beautiful, and everything made me think so much of Papa and Ami. It was really wonderful.
We finally found our way back to Chris and Tony's house, where we met up with the rest of the family. We had dinner, played some games and watched a few youtube videos, and then Aunt Betsy drove me back. I really hope to be able to come out here again... maybe next year if I can't come home for Thanksgiving or something. It's just so comforting to know that there are people out here who genuinely love me and want to see me. That's a feeling that I haven't really had in awhile. I missed it.
Alrighty. I'm going to pack up my back so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow. I love you all, and I'm missing you outrageously this week.
Enjoy being together, and I'll see you in a few weeks!
Laura
