whoosh

So I came home from College Station with a truckload of Chris' things. A few pieces of furniture, a few boxes, and the TV that I don't have to squint to see the TV Guide.

I was interested to see what was in the boxes. I know I packed them, because it's my handwriting on the outside. But I had no idea what was really in them. Turns out, I was pretty good at labeling, and packing. Nothing was broken or out of sorts. It looked like everything had been packed yesterday, although the dates on the newspapers read December 2009.

Everything I unpacked had a memory. I found his old hat, the one that he didn't take off his head for, literally, the first few years I knew him. It looks dirty and worn-in and the sight of it brings back many good times and happy memories of falling in love with the guy in the red hat that lived across the quad in Law Hall.

The dishes make me think of his old apartment at UH. Then there's the big blue plate that he used to eat his donuts off and the cereal bowls that I'd seen stacked in the sink countless times. Now they'll be stacked in OUR sink. There were never so many pub glasses with Budweiser logos on my kitchen counter. We also now have two Pyrex measuring cups, but those things are such high quality that I can't bring myself to donate one.

Those towels I've seen flung across the shower rod & the back of a chair. His bedsheets, including the pillowcase that had a rip and I sewed it back up. It's all got a place somewhere in the back of my memories.

I can't believe these things have been packed away for so long and forgotten. And it's only the kitchen stuff, linens, and a box of hats. What about all of the other stuff we've packed away and forgotten, that we'll open up and remember?

It's like pieces of his old life as a civilian have been hiding in those boxes since we packed it all up. He's become a new person since then. I can't wait until we get to experience that part of him again.

Bowl of popcorn, glass of wine, and chocolate- come here and be my dinner.