No Jersey love on this visit

Have I ever expressed my general disdain for the area known as 'New Jersey?'

Pennsylvania shares a rather large eastern border with it, and some very fine people live and work in that part of PA. It's thoroughly baffling to me how much difference a river can make. I don't trust NJ because I can't trust any place that doesn't trust you enough to pump your own gas.

That being said, I was able to reconnect with my good friends and former roommates last night. And, surprisingly enough, they are the same people! We rescued the new mom from her domestic duties for a couple of hours and enjoyed a full dinner, and talked endlessly. I do feel a little bad, because I know I tend to talk... a lot... and I hope that I get to hear more about the new houses and the kids- either Erin's daughter or Ken's "one-night stand" treasures.

It's always good to see them, and as with everyone, it's hard not to be able to see them on a more regular basis. Sometimes it feels like the years have just disappeared. This was proven when Erin showed me a picture of her niece- she was just barely 7 or 8 the last time I'd even heard about her- and there she was, 15, and right then the last 8 years hit me like a sledgehammer. Inside I cried a little, it was one of those emotional/sentimental things I tend to suppress because I'm a guy, dammit, but for those of you in the know, in crossing over memories of the last eight years, some points in particular are extremely hard. I think about those times I was in grad school, or looking for a job, or in my euphemistic hell.

I survived. I won. I overcame. But life did not stop. And that's what grieves me the most. I lost, not my life, but being a part of my friends' and families' lives. Who knows, maybe it was a good thing for some of them. Life keeps moving on, though.

And finally, I got the Christmas present of which I've been asking from God for five years.

Enough of the sentimental crap.

And add another state to the total number set foot in since the start of the trip. Since starting, that makes it IL, MO, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, VA, MD, PA, and now DE... and there will be more to add. Rough estimation, that's about 3200 miles on the ground and 3000 miles in the air. If you want to get -REALLY- crazy and add from the time of my sister's wedding cruise, it would be something like 3500 miles on the ground, 1100 miles at sea, and 5400 miles in the air.

No, Brian, not one second of it has been "unnecessary travel." That comes later.