Saturday: A long road home

Right now Kaitlin and I are on a Megabus about 2 hours outside of Pittsburgh. Our trip is nearing its end and I cannot wait to be home.

This morning I woke up on the hard airport floor, using my laptop and power cord as a pillow at 530am. Kaitlin was still awake. We caught our plane to Frankfurt and even with the half hour delay we had a four hour layover and it was Kaitlin’s turn to sleep. During this time I ate a beef tartar sandwich (raw ground beef on bread), I couldn’t find the salt though and so I only ate half of it. We then caught our flight to Philadelphia with no problems. Kaitlin and I had synchronized viewings of Jumping the Broom and Midnight in Paris, I enjoyed our movie time on the plane. We filled out our declaration forms on the plane and upon entering the US went through customs and declared nothing. All in all, today has been a long, but easy day of travel.

After the airport we caught a train to the 30^th St. stop in downtown Philadelphia and we were the first in line for the MegaBus, which ensured our front row seats and extra room. That brings us to now. I am too fried and exhausted to reflect upon our trip just yet. I am going to need a few days to digest everything that has happened over the past three weeks.

An interesting game Kaitlin and I have been playing is we pretend like we are the same person, but with a split personality. We are opposites and often extreme and it has been fun to think about how we react and respond in the different situations. As our trip comes to an end I have to question whose life are we going on to live and whose personality will win out. It is possible that I may destroy her before we enter into Pittsburgh, or maybe right now she is plotting against me? Certainly the tug and pull or ying and yang of our relationship balances and heals itself; maybe we will find an equilibrium and before trip’s end quietly slip back into one another, never to remember that a split took place.

Of course that is all fiction, for 20 years now Kaitlin and I have lived separate, very busy lives that could not afford the luxury of a double life, but the thought lingers and brings a smile to my lips as I see my own reflection in the window of the bus. It has been the trip of a lifetime and in 20 years we will do it right, on a cruise, maybe with family and our friends by our sides. Everyone start saving because our 40^th friend anniversary is 2030 and you are all invited. We hope to see you all then, by that time you all will have surpassed the 20 year friendship mark that binds and tethers souls together forever. I hope to have honor of calling Kaitlin and all of you my friends in the year 2030.

Until then,

Alli and Kait.