Home Sweet Harrisonburg

This past weekend I got to spend another glorious few days in Harrisonburg and see some people I haven't seen in quite a while. The weekend started with homemade Mac & Cheese and some much needed catching up with Rachel while we waited for Shawn to get home. It felt like old times minus the work drama and the fact that I wasn't in my PJs and Ron wasn't running around bothering Avery.

I eventually made it to Harrisonburg to meet up with some people at Ham's. At this point I was not only full (Thanks, Rachel!) but also waning on straight-up grumpy as my day (thanks to work and driving) was nothing short of exhausting. I can only be sorry for being in such a bad mood but hope Ashley, Jess and Connor didn't expect too much from me to begin with. I managed to eat half of a cookie skillet and sip a Blue Moon only to go home and pass out promptly on Jess's floor.

Saturday we made a game plan (pun intended) to tailgate at 10am with a kickoff time at 3:30. Five solid hours of beer and burgers complete with cornhole a couple of trips to visit other people in the area. My attitude went downhill quickly when I realized I wasn't feeling any of the alcohol and was full on junk food. We made it to the game and I anxiously watched the first two quarters before meeting up with Jill and my FAVORITE little sister and Mike.

Surprisingly enough, I decided to actually get concessions food and opted for a soft pretzel and hot chocolate. To my surprise, the cashier had NO idea what she was doing (I knew that place would fall apart without me). Resisting the urge to reach over and do it myself, I walked her through the transaction (flawlessly, I might add) and got her through Molly's too. She was more the grateful but I made sure to tell my old boss, Mike, that the new people weren't hacking it.

After an exhausting day and a failed dinner outing due to every place having a 45 minute wait, we went back Jess's and ordered pizza and cookies. We managed to entertain ourselves for a few hours thanks to Doug playing puppet with Kate's shoes including British commentary by Connor. Breakfast with Keitha and Leslie and a impromptu stop at Rachel's to see her new pup dog made my weekend complete.

The first time I went back to Harrisonburg a few weeks ago, it didn't feel any different. I was hanging out with the same people and doing what I would be doing if I was still going to school there. The only difference was I actually got to watch the football game instead of working it. Even that was only half-enjoyed as I was running around visiting people and trying to make sure I saw EVERYONE.  Naturally, I was sad to leave and return Sunday knowing I had to go to work the next morning.

This time felt a little different. I guess now that I'm more settled into Charlotte, I actually felt like an alumni this time; like my home really wasn't in Harrisonburg any more and I was just visiting. I found myself judging the freshman and their hipster attitudes and watching and analyzing the game instead of just trying to see who else was there. It was definitely a different feeling and this time, I wasn't as sad to leave. I'm still going to miss the people but my longing for Harrisonburg is slowly turning into a need that can be satisfied with a few days and some awesome people. Nonetheless, it's still in my top two favorite places in the world; only second behind Vegas but who can really compete with that?

Counting down the days till Homecoming! Ikea, Scarowinds and a stand-up comedy act with Mike and Whitney should get me through the next weekend until I can make it back to VA for my FIRST Homecoming as a JMU Alum.