Back in NJ

Whew. I am officially no longer in the DC area :( I miss it already! I mean I love being home with my family, but I love DC and I miss being there. This picture was taken last week when Cat and I went down to the mall to just hang out. We went to the two Sculpture Gardens and played travel Scabble as we watched the summer kickball and softball leagues play on the mall. Then I mentioned in my last entry Cat and I climbed (er, took the elevator) up the Washington Monument on Tuesday so I feel like I've seen the National Mall at all angles! I was there during President Obama's Inagural Concert and for Inaguration (in freezing cold weather from 5am-3pm!), for protests, to hang out with friends, to watch them film movies, to celebrate my 19th birthday... I have so many good memories over the last for years in this one place alone in DC I can't believe I can't just hop on the metro anymore and be there in like half an hour. I am about four hours away now! It feels so weird. Sometimes when I am away from DC I feel like my whole life there doesn't exist, and vice versa. In DC home in NJ seemed so far away. It's strange.

Anyway. Friday my dad was at my apartment around 7:30am. I was up until 3am cleaning and packing my car, so it was not a good wake up call! We packed up the van and we were out of there by about 9am. We stopped for lunch at my rest stop, the Maryland House on 95, and I was home by 1pm. Driving through Philidelphia I saw about six Marine Corps billboards and every single one made me think of Ryan and how much I love him and how proud of him I am. I got a tiny bit teary around the fourth one and fell driving behind my dad and sneaked a cigarette so I could keep going! So we got home and Mom helped us unload the car and then we just hung out for a bit. My Babci (grandmother) sent me a shoebox of pictures she found so my mom and I went through them and then I napped for an hour. We had a huge thunderstorm system thing move in during my nap, so it went from sunny and hot to torrential downpour!

Mom and I decided to drive and see Babci and Poppy since she got released from the hospital today. We stopped at a park near their house since my Mom wanted to smoke with me, it was funny. It was the park she and George (my biological father/asshole of a guy) took their wedding photos in, which was weird to be back there. But we went and had dinner with my grandparents. My Babci's sister, my Aunt Ceil, made pasta with meat sauce, zucchini quiche, and chocolate cake that also strangely enough had zucchini in it! I don't like zucchini, but this was all reeeeeeally good!!! We visited for a few hours and I napped again for an hour in the back room with my Poppy, side by side in our arm chairs! It was apparently a funny sight. Then we drove home.

Today I got up, went shopping with Mom, picked up my dad and brother after they kayaaked the river nearby, and then came home to talk to Ryan! I got about an hour online with him (: After he left I got ready and we went to Church. I don't know what started it, but as we were getting there I got really upset with my dad. I think it started in the car. I mentioned Ryan was talking about the Health Care plans on the news and all and my mom said she doesn't like the idea of the government paying for abortions which I don't care for either personally, but she went on to say something about not just abortion, but euthanasia and birth control. That threw me. I was like, "Wait a second, why is Birth Control up there with abortion and euthanasia??" And she started talking about the Catholic thing and I said I knew she used to take it, she knows I do... and she said stuff about absitnence etc. I said, "Yea, I am sure everyone in our church is doing that mom. If they were we'd all be in families of 18 like that Duggar reality tv show. I'm sorry if I feel like at 21 I don't feel ready to bring a child into the world so excuse me for using Birth Control." To which Stefan, my 12 year old brother, pipes up "What's birth control?"

Oops.

Well we averted that by ignoring it in the heat of our argument and we were almost at church when my mom mentioned my icky neighbor across the street came over today to deliver our mail she got by mistake. She was my former algebra teacher and a rip roaring bitch. This is where I got uspet. Dad started teasing me sort of about her son Matt, the creepy kid who is her son. He sort of had a crush on me way back when and was a bit older than me and he was just Weird with a capital W. So Dad was like, "Hey maybe Matt talked her into it. You should give him a call, hang out." And I said no thanks I'm taken, kept walking. And he kept going. My Mom was like, "She is in a committed relationship Bill. Stop it." And my dad was like, "Yea but Ryan isn't here, he wouldn't know." I swear to God I've never felt any real bad feelings against my dad before, but for the first time in my life I wanted to hit him. I was telling him to stop but in that one I said it again with an edge in my voice I don't think I've ever used before. I started tuning him out as he was talking to my mom, "Yea you heard what your dad (aka my poppy (grandfather) said)..." and went on to say something about some Sgt who cheated when he was stationed elsewhere so I am not the only one to worry about etc. I honestly felt tears in my eyes and I turned to my mom and said, "Seriously, make him stop, now." And I guess she did. I didn't say a word to him until halfway through dinner later tonight. I was just so angry. My mom said he was just teasing me and trying to get a rise out of me, probably didnt even realize how upset I was, but it still hurt regardless.

Anyway. We went to dinner at this restaurant called Old Man Rafferty's, which was really nice. A glass of prosecco (Italian champagne) later I felt better and I started talking to my dad again without realizing it. We're past it now so I guess it is ok, I let it go. After dinner Mom and I went to Wegmans and did some grocery shopping, in the pouring rain of course. My friend Cat called to say hi and see how I was doing at home, I miss her! The picture over here was from a week or so ago when we went to Great Falls VA and hiked around for awhile. I love that park. It is about 15 minutes outside of DC and you'd never expect to find such awesome scenery so close to a city!!

Then Mom and I came home, worked on putting a care package or two together for Ryan (: and wrote some letters. Stefan leaves for camp bright and early tomorrow so she was writing him a card or two to have when he gets there. After that we went in the hot tub, smoked a bit, and just talked. My mom was telling me all about how she put my scrapbooks together for my college graduation present, just what the process was and how much work went into organizing it and how the lady that taught us how to scrap book helped her put it together. She is thinking of doing one for Stefan up until 8th grade for him and all his stuff... which would be cool.

Then I came upstairs, uploaded my pictures to facebook, which finally took! I had been trying for days and it kept failing but I got them up at last! Then I emailed Ryan. Now I am going to head to sleep... hopefully sleep in tomorrow! We might go visit Babci and Poppy for dinner but tomorrow is pretty open. Next weekend, Sunday the 9th, is their 62nd wedding anniversary. I can't believe it! 62 years....

I hope someday I can say it is my 62nd anniversary ;)