Definitely a New Experience: Waking Up in Your Kid's Space Trying to Get Acclimated Over His French-Pressed Coffee

My flight was delayed and delayed and delayed, but I made it by 11 and we sat up talking until 1 a.m. - he had an 8 a.m. meeting. He's in a great location, and has set himself up nicely, although I have to laugh that every cupboard has items organized, efficient, and spaced perfectly. In fact, I feel like I'm a giant dirt ball going to ruin his things. He's also a man of a million smells and the air fresheners are thick - almost to the point of mall department store perfume departments. It's the Axe phase most middle school boys go through - it's just Chitunga has expanded and built upon the smells he likes in his spaces. 

He warned me about the train (he lives by the tracks) but so far no locomotion. The traffic outside can be heard, though, people coming downtown for work. I discovered the art of tying a black pillowcase over my eyes to block out the sun to sleep a little longer. My brain starts working as soon as it detects light. Funny, he's at the almost 30 phase where his brain doesn't shut off at night and he can't fall asleep. I hated that bit...the part where the frontal cortex comes to fruition and you realize your full rational self. All the logic (and worry)(and wonder) falls into place. 

He bought a new couch...and adult one (he said). Online. I will never understand this generation's online shopping obsession. It's nice, but feels like a couch you'd get online. Like sitting on bricks. 

But it's great to come into a space where you're so represented: Butch, Sue, cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Louisville, gifts over the years, books, artwork. He's brought Connecticut (and Syracuse) with him is his DesMoines space. It feels like home away from home. 

And with the 2nd bedroom, I also have my own bathroom. They are nice. Even the air mattress he purchased was comfortable. I laughed, though, because the towels he left me are tied with a bow (fresh from wherever her purchased them). It's funny, because I've always used out-of-town guests to advance my own home -- that is, new beds, new items, rearrangements, grown-up things as people came to visit. 

And I remember the Pier One gift card my mom got me so I could begin adulting in Kentucky. 

Heading to the terminal, the culture of human beings changed in the same way it used to as I headed back to the midwest. All the cultures, wonders, and diversity of the world, get rather weighty and milky as you head towards the gates. The people watching was irreplaceable. I'm still in awe, actually.

This coffee, however, is delicious. I just have to find the scent that is causing the headache. It's just one and it's a smell that pinches right at my temple.

Here's to the adventure.