the calm before the storm

J-star* is sitting on the tan sofa, attempting to study physics while i barrage her with a litany of wonderings, whimsies and woes. i am tucked under a UT blanket on the other sofa, my laptop in front of me, the worldwide web at my fingertips.

“i want to start writing regularly in my blog,” i say (whine?), “but i don’t know what to write.” 

“write about physics,” J-star teases.

and then, sitting here babbling back and forth with J-star as we wait for A-dawg to get home, it becomes easy to write. it is this – the sitting here, the babbling, the late night, shared dinner, the amicable tug-of-war over the air conditioning - that i want to write about. i want to write about this moment (because it represents so many others like it) and capture it immortally on the page.

the countdown for my move to boston has begun – 11 days to go – and it hits me (as it frequently does nowadays) that i won’t be able to do what i am doing now anymore. i am moving away from conversations with J-star about facebook and scrabble, jane eyre and pride and prejudice. i am moving away from sharing books and lunches and let-me-tell-you-about-my-day chats with A-dawg. Away from last-minute trips to HEB, from movie nights with these girls, and serenading them with High School Musical and Disney tunes.

somedays, this realization comes wrapped in sadness, but tonight i am not sad - just calm, contented, sitting on the sofa making faces at J-star and A-dawg.

 

 

 

 

*obviously not her real name. J-star is the code name for one of my flatmates. A-dawg is the other one.