Emptiness

The keys are turned in and the apartment  is officially out of our hands. Here is a picture to prove it's emptiness...

Certainly, this place was nothing special, other than the fact that it was ours. In the past  Jeff had had a place that I had stayed at, and vise versa, but never had we had a place that was ours before this beauty! That's what makes it tough. Other than that, it was an old place, not in the best shape, and on an awful street.

I did not sleep much. Uncomfortable bed, Shea getting sick, too much cookie cake, or not having anyone sleeping beside me? Not sure which to blame, or if it was a combination. Either way, the lack of sleep didn't really effect my day.

I did get an interesting phone call this morning from a former high school teacher of mine. Weird, I know! Now a days, she is in charge of a program that all young teachers in New York State need to be a part of. She was unsure who I was because my last has changed, but she had a pretty good idea. We share greetings, and she says, "I have two questions to ask you." She proceeded to ask, "Are you the Alicia who used to come to my house on Halloween and leave messages in shaving cream?" Uh oh, I am that same Alicia. Now give me a second to explain before you decide that I was a delinquent teenager. What you may not guess is that she was one of my favorite teachers!  She used to live in the same neighborhood and on Halloween, my friends and we would go to her house to trick-or-treat, and when she wasn't there, we wanted her to know that we had stopped by to see her. Thus, we left pleasant messages written in shaving cream on the street in front of her house. If she were to tell you she didn't enjoy it, she would be lying! Really, I'm not just saying that! The next day at school, every year, she would hunt me down, come into my classroom, and give me a big bag of candy! She wouldn't have done that if she didn't enjoy it! Anyways, I apologized for my actions years ago and agreed to attend the program tomorrow.

Tonight my brother, Nick, and I played with Shea for a long time. We threw him the ball, we let him swim in my parents' pond, and we hit tennis balls with a baseball bat for Shea to fetch. It was a lot of fun. I felt like I was 10 years old again. I love that feeling, and I probably have it more than the average adult. My job, as a teacher of 10 year olds, allows me to "stay young." Beyond that, playing with Shea, my first pet, brings out all the childhood fun I should have had, if I had been allowed to have a pet. I always brag to people that because of Shea, Jeff and I go on walks, we go play in the fields, and we do a lot of things we wouldn't necessarily do if Shea was not with us. I feel like he has brought us together even more. While I was having fun with Shea and Nick, I had thought about all of the fun times Jeff and I have had playing with Shea. Those simple walks we went on with the dog, the games we played with him, all those things add up to some of my fondest memories of our married life together. I am very grateful to have people who will take time to play with Shea, but I will truly miss the time Jeff and I spent together catering to our Shea's needs.