This beautiful exchange

I cried a lot yesterday. I don’t know what it was about the day, or if it was just a build up from the past week, but I woke up very sad. At lunchtime, Tony mentioned that I looked upset and asked what was wrong. Until then, I didn’t realize how sad I really was. I was surprised at how quickly the tears came and my heart swelled up two sizes too big. I missed our friends.

We have been working so hard to put the house together that I hadn’t realized how lonely I had started to feel. We’ve been here a week, now, and usually by this time, we’ve spent at least two nights with dear friends. And, here we are, in a place where the closest “friend” we have is the neighbor across the street who brings Graham their leftover t-bones from dinner.

Loneliness is a funny thing. In a moment, it can span several years. I found that not only did I miss our friends in Virginia, but I also missed my friends in Missouri, who I’ve not lived near for over two years! And, I missed my mom. For a few minutes I truly believed that if she were here, I wouldn’t miss anyone at all.

When I moved to Virginia, I had family there who helped connect me with other people pretty quickly. This time, we have to figure out how to get connected all on our own. Such a scary place to be for two relatively introverted people. Will we like Charlottans? Will we fit in? I don’t know if I even LIKE Nascar!

Of course, as any good husband, Tony sat with me and listened, and then agreed that we should go to Bed Bath & Beyond to use my gift card. We bought king-sized pillows for our bed, new sheets for the guest bed, salt and pepper shakers, and a vegetable thingy for the grill.