{the making of me} chapter 10

the visitors.

we each had a sibling come to town. mountain man was our first visitor and our second. after moving us out there, he came for "winds of love"s birthday a few weeks after our arrival. i had staked out a small carnival in a port town thrown by the baptist church. it was lovely. fish and chips with sweet potato fries were involved as well as a down pour that gave us our first dose of east coast rain. never.in.my.life had i see a down pour like that. we had to pull over in our scenic route because i thought hell had been unleashed and i didn't think the trusty taurus would make it out unscathed. we took refuge under some trees off to the side of the road as other cars drove by unfazed.

mountain man told us the tale of a napoleon dynamite that had hit the rocky mountains with some shredded cheese and a tube of chapstick. he would tell us tales of boondoggle and crap being left on someone's porch. i thought it was quite weird and he assured me he would be letting us watch the show when he could get his hands on it. it did make me homesick to see him. knowing he would be returning to everything familiar and cozy to me. i kept telling myself i could do this, i could do this. still no tears had been shed in depression or longing up to that point.

we heard news that s.mac's brother, wife and new baby were coming for a weekend. we were thrilled and got to bustling around the house making it functional for company. it was decided that we would trek to the boston, mass. area. we headed out on holiday labor day weekend. we were out the door around 9:30 am only to come upon the road block of a race being held in the down town area we lived. every road to the freeway was blocked by runners and police men. no notice was left on our door that we would be unable to get out. i was a cussing mess after 45 minutes of this nonsense. i almost broke my crying spurt right then and there. luckily, we found our way out of the mess and got to our road trip.

the city was unlike anything i thought boston would be. i fell in love, deeply. it was one of the most friendly towns and that was a welcome refuge from the unfriendliness the east coast had shown us so far. s.mac's dad is a tour guide and told us that he one day wants to grow old in boston because of the people. he loves it there. he gave us the tip off of the red brick trail and faneuil square. we were able to walk the trail, eat in the sea of choices at the market and fall in love minute by minute with the lovely place. it was so invigorating for me. it was also expensive. parking, road tolls and food put us in the "we can do this one more time while we live here" category.

s.mac's brother was looking at a school in the area and we were able to peruse the cambridge area and the beautiful harvard and MIT campus. they were so picturesque. i loved seeing the rowers on the water and the colonial architecture.

all in all, the visiting both comforted me and made me lonely. i was so jealous of the landing their departing planes would be doing. a part of me was thinking the 2 years ahead were too long and too hard. i really couldn't see myself here for 2 years. on the up side, it gave me pride in our new area to have visitors and show them the beauty of brick oven pizza, a cannoli from libby's, thai food that rocked and the campus, that was the comforting part of visitors. i was determined to make our house a home and settle.

i think the only thing that kept me going at this point was the sunday's we got to partake in. it was the one familiar place to me. familiar songs, familiar feelings of bonding thru belief and those beautiful missionaries that greeted us every sunday at that door with a hand shake and a smile. i would wait all week for it.