family, friends, fun, football, and being an idiot

oh me, where do i start? i did my best to cram in the most fun, family, and friends that i possibly could this weekend, and i think i did a good job.

i finally left nashville at about 6 thursday night. the only stops i made were for gas and coffee. i pulled into athens at 12:30, and went straight to bed.

woke up friday, watched tv, played frisbee with blue, and went back to sleep. saw the family for a little bit, went to justin's duplex, and sat around a fire in his back yard with he and lesley. after staying there a couple of hours, i went to casey and callie's where we eventually watched rv. their friend drew and i were the only two who stayed awake through the movie. when it was over i went home because for some crazy reason, they had decided we should meet at their place at 7:30 to leave to tailgate for the vandy game.

it was really cold out on lumpkin in front of the holiday inn, and after waiting what felt like hours, casey's folks showed up and we chowed down on some not-so-traditional tailgating food, but it was a dang good breakfast. the weather finally warmed up, and we made our way to the back row of the student section in front of the bridge. after a miserable performance, georgia lost to vandy for the first time in forever. folks were crying, which i found funny. i mean, i know you're not supposed to lose to vandy, or lose the homecoming game, but why were they crying?

after the game we ate some leftover breakfast and went back to their apartment. we watched the first half of the florida/auburn game, figured florida would win, and then headed to the dollar theater to see talladega nights. i probably stayed awake for about half of it, alternating between callie's shoulder and struggling to keep my eyes open. i dropped them off and drove home to get a little sleep before going to grandma's.

we left for south georgia sunday morning to spend the day with my grandma on her 89th birthday. the dogs had fun running around the farm and getting into the most disgusting situation i've ever experienced. we stopped in macon for some seafood at corky bell's on the way home, then got back to athens at 9.

i went to see whit in toccoa, driving for 2 hours there and back for a little over an hour of time with her. it was well worth it, but i probably just frustrated her because i'm so closed off lately.

slept in a little monday, then headed to milledgeville to see my kids and the teachers i student taught with last year. the kids have grown a ton. i was in kristi's crazy class for a while, saw the other teachers, listened to jessica and lauren complain about teacher work samples, then headed to gcsu to see dr. j.

i hadn't told her i was coming so i believed her when she said she was shocked. i talked to her a while about life and realized i'm incredibly spoiled teaching up here. bui came in to get a recommendation letter for grad school and talked about how hard his job is. he says he loves it, and i pray he does, cause goodness knows i couldn't teach in a psycho-ed center.

after that i hung out with kelli until it was time for dinner with the crazy ladies who teach at creekside. after that kelli saw me walking downtown from pueblas, so i joined her and her cousin while they ate.

i drove back to athens at 4:45 am when kelli kicked me off her couch as she headed to the gym. i slept a few hours, took my dad out to lunch for his birthday, threw my things in the car and drove through the rain back to nashville.

after crossing monteagle (quite a spiritual place for me, i'll write a song about it at some point) the rain stopped and the fall leaves popped with color. if i wasn't on the interstate, i would have pulled over to take pictures. instead i just took it in with my own two eyes.

blue and i are glad to be home. i'm worn out, but it was well worth it. i had an amazing time, did some stupid stuff, but overall had a great trip home. i answered some "what if" questions and all in all had a great vacation.