hollywood magic

the movie business is such a huge industry in america- movies become a part of a lot of people's daily thoughts. well, maybe just me. i wonder if i ever make it through a day without thinking of at least one movie quote, or comparing real life to such-and-such movie, or seeing an actress on the cover of a magazine at the grocery store, airport terminal, etc.

you get the picture: (pun intended) movies are everywhere.

who doesn't wish that for one day they were in a movie? that hollywood would call and whisk them away, just temporarily? well, that happened to me. sort of.

imagine me packing my things up to move from this district to texas last saturday morning. clothes everywhere. white house invitations, sweet notes from friends, phone chargers and ipod headphones scatter the floor. boxes and suitcases in the living room, hallway, my bedroom. i've been packing in stages for three days and my life is still a mess.

next scene: 9:30 a.m. slight panic washes over me as i realize i've been packing 2 hours and there is no way i have enough time to meet friends on the hill for brunch one last time. i'll be doing good to be ready to leave for the airport on time. i leave the house to search for more boxes and buy packing tape, both of which i am completely out of.

my phone rings, but i can't answer because i'm walking down the street with a few boxes i stole from the neighbors trash. i check the voicemail later: its bonnie. she and caitlin are on their way to my house to say goodbye, whether i want them to or not, she says, since i can't make it to see them on the hill.

this is when my life becomes a movie. imagine caitlin and bonnie (dressed exactly alike in matching vests) packing me up, making me laugh, freaking out for me that i'm not going to make my flight. imagine themlugging my junk out the door and loading bonnies car, labeling my boxes, getting me ship-shape.

we finally get to the post office, hilarious - us struggling to carry the boxes up the steps and through the old, heavy doors to the counter. bonnie waiting in the car (illegally parked of course) and signing loudly through the window. caitlin taping my boxes with a crazed look in her eye, after the postal worker asked me: "you have tape? because you need to tape these boxes. i can see your clothes coming out."

if those boxes are dropped in the ocean, the contents will be fine. caitlin sealed them so they're water tight, air tight, protected from any terror threat, etc.

i didn't shed real tears until my cab pulled away. sean-katherine's signifcant other-took pictures of us out front. i told katherine how much i loved her. told bonnie it was see-you-later, not goodbye. told caitlin...nothing. i can't really even process not seeing her face whenever i feel like it, so it was better to just not make eye contact. :)

i didn't load a single bag into the cab. my friends did it for me. i would have completely missed my flight without the help of kathy, bonbon, and hodgepodge.

cab rides always feel like a movie scene to me, maybe because we just don't cab around in htown. but, for me, the entire morning had that "hollywood magic" to it. where else do friends show up without asking, shove your possesions into a box, and make a sad day perfectly happy? movie screens.

god blessed me beyond belief during my time in the capitol, down to the very last minute. i'm so blessed to have the wonderful friends that i do, and not just the ones mentioned in this short post. i'm glad that through chaotic moments and nearly a dozen cardboard boxes, He can remind me of those blessings, and their importance.

thanks to all of you for always being there.

*ps, someday, when one of the boxes arrive that holds all my camera equipment, i'll upload some photos from the packing extravaganza.