I poured iced coffee into a jar yesterday afternoon and thought about Virginia.

It was 40 degrees and sunny outside, and my apartment was clean and I had fresh tulips sitting on the table, still waiting to fully bloom. I love living in Minneapolis, I really do. There's something about the city and the people and the food that makes me feel extremely understood.

But I don't have anyone to run with here, no one to drop by for tea on a random afternoon. These past six and a half months with Rob have truly felt like a blessing--like a chance to make up for the time we might have lost over the year that we were so far from one another--but there are days where I think we both would love to just have one or two of our best friends around for drinks or a laid-back weekend brunch.

I know that at some point, I will have to stop fantasizing about the time I spent as a student, because there is never going to be another time where all of my friends can drop what they're doing to just hang out. Shawna and I won't always just have an hour or two in the middle of the afternoon to meet for coffee, or decide to drink a pitcher of mimosas on a porch, or go on a quick run down our favorite trail in Charlottesville. There isn't a realistic new version of the story where Tina and her sister and I go to lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon all cuddled up together in my bed, watching some episode of Grey's Anatomy.

But these are my favorite memories--the ones where I meet my mom for lunch every day and hang out with my dad on the lake every weekend; where almost all of the people I love are just an arm's reach away. I carry them with me everywhere I go, to every place I'll ever call home. And maybe one day, I can return to that world for good and put them down on a mantle somewhere, where they will be safe and I can start to make new ones.

Minneapolis might understand me, but Virginia knows me.

This post is in response to the following prompt: "What's been on your mind? What have you carried and gnawed over?" (From Old Friend from Far Away, page 154.) If you've written a response of your own, please share it below in the comments! 

P.S. Visit this post for next week's prompt.

Happy Monday! Rob has the day off and his brother, Sam, is with us until this evening, so we're still weekend-ing today. 

The two of us had a wonderful, laid-back Valentine's Day together and then Sam got in on Saturday afternoon, so it's been a great few days. We're deep into season two of House of Cards (oh my goodness) and have hit up more happy hours in the past seventy-two hours than I can even count. How was your weekend? I hope you had a lovely one, too.

PS My first Old Friend from Far Away prompt response will be posted on Wednesday! I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

Sean's four and a half days here have flown by so incredibly fast--I can't believe he's heading back to Virginia this afternoon. I thought I took a bunch of photos, but they're mostly of food, which I guess is to be expected. We also went snowshoeing, explored Minnehaha falls, and watched the Olympics and Parks and Rec like it was going out of style. Rob and Sean are such good friends and it's the most wonderful thing in the world to see.

It's been a great long weekend, and now I'm so anxious to get back to Virginia in March to spend a week at home before my DC bachelorette weekend with all of my best girlfriends! But before that happens, we have another brother visit this coming weekend--Rob's brother, Sam is coming in on Thursday night! So I'll most likely have another weekend recap again next Monday. Until then, here's a look at the past few days around here with Sean.

 

    

How was your weekend?