Leavin' Town

I’m off on a business trip – just a short one, I’ll be back tomorrow. I don’t do the kind of exotic, work-related travel I used to, and sometimes I miss it, but sometimes I’m fine with an overnight trip, instead of the possibility of being away from Special K for a month or two. (That would be rough – we haven’t even been married that long, after all.) I’ve been able to finagle my travel so that I can stop and see a friend along the way, which is always nice. So, I’ll hop off a train in New York this evening, go have dinner, then get a rental car and head up the Hudson River Valley. (Although, I have a feeling that they’ll give me a Pontiac G6 – which I’ve rented before and loathed. Horrible sight lines, which isn’t fun when you’re driving at night in unfamiliar territory.)

Special K is actually going to take me to lunch before dropping me off at the train. Yesterday, he said “so…do you want me to take you to the train station tomorrow?”, and I said “oh, that’s okay, I can just Metro over to Union Station. You don’t need to interrupt your day for that.” There was a bit of a pause and he said “well…I could take you to the train station…”, and I looked at him and said “do you want to take me to the train station because I’m going away?”, and he sheepishly nodded. (Aww…)

I’m now aboard the train, making my way toward NYC. As much crap as Amtrak receives, it’s been a very enjoyable trip so far. Of course, this route is one of their best in terms of reliability and such, but still. It’s too bad that people bitch about how much rail travel is subsidized and how it’s still a losing venture, when they don’t think about how much driving their car is subsidized without their knowledge. It’s more expensive than driving or flying (but not much, depending on how you do it), but it’s been a fairly mellow trip. Hop on train, give conductor ticket, wait for stop. I don’t think I’ve been on a train since I was in college, but it was always the one form of transportation that was moving when nothing else was (stupid blizzard of ’96).

The house is slowly coming together, and we’re figuring out how we want things to be. It’s kind of fun – and will be even more fun when we have our own place to fix up one day. (Again – not for quite some time. So let’s hope the current landlords don’t change their minds about anything else in the near future. That whole situation has me feeling a little uneasy, but that’s a separate issue.) Out of curiosity, I was perusing some home listings, and I saw a really cool-looking house that needed a bit of work in a nice part o’ the burbs; accessible to Metro and walkable to fun things, which would make the ‘burbs feel less burb-y. It was even a very reasonable price – especially for that area. Home renovation doesn’t scare me or Special K – as long as it’s structurally sound, we’d be game. When I casually mentioned it to him, I said “but that’s okay – we can’t buy it now, so it’s obviously not our house.” He just kind of smiled at me. It’s nice that he understands the somewhat odd ramblings of his somewhat odd wife.

Work is busy, but manageable these days. I’m often able to leave at a reasonable hour, which is nice. Of course, a reasonable hour in this office is any time before 7 – which is late for some people. (A new person in the office asked one of my co-workers if we always worked late, because he was here “really late” the other night. He left at 7:15. I suppose it’s all relative…) But as I said, I’m glad that things are more sane. It helps me be more sane. I’ve also been going running with a friend from work at lunch, and I’m slowly regaining some of my past abilities, which also helps me be more sane.

The train is about to pull into Penn Station, and I’ve just had a thought that’s so girly and nauseating, I can’t believe it. But I miss Special K. I know I’ll see him tomorrow, and we only said goodbye a few hours ago, but for some reason, I miss him.

*retch*