Phew, craziness. As my girl Kirby would say---hella filthy.

 

Somehow i didn't anticipate that there would be like 50 people in a 2 bedroom apartment kickin it for most of the weekend...or how many of those people would be old friends of mine i haven't seen in too long, or how far some of them would have drove (13hrs!!), or far they would have flown in from...or how weird it is to finally meet people who you feel like you have known b/c you hear their names so much or you have been myspace or facebook or something stalking them in the meantime. Not that i do that. never do that. no one admits to doing that.  It was like a gathering of the (i'm looking for some analogy here that just isn't coming). yeah. that isn't coming.

 

The wedding was beautiful--Nabz and Laila danced their way down the aisle and said the 10 words.  Since the only requirement of Baha'i weddings is the vow, "we will all verily abide by the will of God", they said it in 2 languages each--their mother tongues and English. The Greensboro Baha'i center was PACKED full of people and a roasted full pig. HAHAH. The one thing that southerners and filipinos have in common--pig pickins. 

 

The trip had all the usual drama, me bein anal about time, it being 90 degrees and the car having no air con--damn i love the south, someone almost missin a flight, a couple of someones straight missin theirs for no reason, abandoned clothes, having to get Zia's faux hawk cut upon arrival.--you get the picture.  I got to see Dave Friday night on the way in and go to the Durham Baha'i Center for devotions on Sunday with my Seattle peeps---made my heart happy to share that with them and have them meet some of the folks who are so engrained in my  memories from NC.

 

pics soon as i get the FILM i shot developed--yes i shot film, no i am not sure it didn't melt in the 200 degree car.

Its been almost three and a half years since i was in North Carolina...part of it is b/c i was tryin to run away and never go back--there are some people and things there that i have a hard time extricating myself from.  I'm wondering if the dragons on my back are going to burn like a Harry Potter-esque scar when i get in the airspace above it. Part of it is that going home is never the same once the house you knew as a kid is gone and part of it is that your life has moved in a million different directions.  Some of the memories there are kinda hard. Which in part is why i am so glad my seattle crew is coming with--to help ward off the thinking place i could get into. That and i CANNOT imagine this trip without them....like not having my foot or my soul or something with.

 

Anyways. Point being, i am going home.  I keep calling it home, which is weird too. Like a bad habit i can't quite seem to shake. If home is where the heart is, and like i have said before i do leave mine places from time to time, then the truth is that home is Haifa and i live in Seattle (HERE is where my life IS) and NC is where i am from...its in my blood. That chapter's long closed. 

 

Needless to say, I want Bojangles chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and collard greens. I want to hear thick accents and see genuine smiles, i want to dance with derick like we did as kids, and feel like i can breathe out for a second. I can't wait to laugh till i can't stand and show the people who are my near ones here who my dear ones there are...Sam and Kirby are going to get along like two peas in a pod. 

 

This past weekend was birthday weekend. We were out in the stix for Kirby, Ra, and Anu's birthday party. Mariangela cooked some DELICIOUS pasta, there was tons of dessert, hookah, laughing, and a little freestyle over beats that were spinnin all night long. Oh yeah, and the Wii, can't forget the game that makes grown men revert to 12 year olds in 3 seconds flat. haha.  We wrapped it all up with breakfast in Beacon Hill on Sunday morning, some well deserved lounging Sunday afternoon with everyone doin their homework in my living room and devotions that night.  My soul was hell happy, is hella happy, whatever.  I'll post some pics when i get them.