Current mood:

content

It's Later
Since I'm sitting around at work with not much better to do, I decided I should say something more than just pointing at ashyraine's entries about my visit to SC. The story is told as best as I can remember it.


Thursday:
Flew out of MCI at 7am (was at the airport at 5:30--not fun for me to be awake that early, but I was excited, at least) and finally arrived in Charlotte at 2ish. Picked up the rental car and drove down to Simpsonville. That was the easy part. I asked directions at a gas station to make sure I was going the right direction down one road, and only missed the place I needed to turn once (silly wind row blocking the sign). I pulled into Ashley's driveway, heart beating quite fast, and saw her open the door. She came out to meet me, and we hugged tight, greeted each other, then I went inside to meet some of her family. Met her Marmee, Papa, Aunt Kim, and Sara there.
After dropping off my stuff in her room (where I stayed for the long weekend), we went to her mom's house for dinner. That was quite a treat! Stuffed shell lasagna, french bread, and milk for me...delicious. I met Ashy's mom, Vince, Ashley's sister Ashley, Ashley's sister Ashley's boyfriend Jason, and Ashley's brother Michael
there. After dinner, we all watched The Butterfly Effect. We watched the director's cut, and then the theatrical ending--I like the theatrical ending better myself (but won't post any spoilers here). During the movie, though, Ashy got brave enough to hold my hand.
When we returned from dinner to Ashy's house, she and I spend some time cuddling on the couch. It was there that I had my first kiss with my Sweetness! And I liked it! I went to bed about 2am that...morning.

Friday:
Had a bowl of cereal, and Ashley and I headed to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. Saw lots of cool animals, including giraffes, flamingos, the Alligator mississippiensis, penguins, and hornbills. We walked up the woodland trail there to their garden. Beautful scenery on the path, and a rich variety of flowers in the garden, too. We sat in a swing and, probably, grossed out a few kids with our kissing.
Eventually we left the zoo and went to Ashy's Grammy's house, where I met her Grammy, Kara (Ashley's sister), and Kara's boyfriend Adam. I tried, unsuccessfully, to hold one of the twins (Ashley's half-brothers)--unsuccessfully because I have no experience in holding babies...need to work on that some, I guess. We had hamburgers for dinner, and sprayed our hair blue afterwards before going to Hype (a youth thing at Ashley's church). I also breifly met Ashy's dad there.
After that, we decided to "terrorize the town," and visited Pier 1, TJ Maxx, and Wal-Mart (because the malls there close at 9pm). We didn't get kicked out of any of the stores, but we may have turned a few heads with the blue hair.
To wrap up the day, we spent more time cuddling on the couch. I love Ashy!

Saturday:
We planned on going to Keoway-Toxaway, but the meteorologists predicted rain. Because of the forecast, we went to the movie theater to see I, Robot. While waiting for the ticket counter to open, we wandered around the nearby mall. The movie, though, is awesome. Sonny is the best.
We then went back to Ashley's Grammy's, to find out how to get to Simpsonville park. Ashley started feeling sick, though, so we stayed there and I held her until she felt better--good thing we didn't go to Keowee, though!
Because Ashy's mom invited us to dinner again, we went over there to eat. Ashley's mom's turkey is excellent! We also had fresh corn-on-the-cob--I'd only had the real stuff (not store-bought) once before--it's good! I met Crystal (Ashley's step-sister) that night.
We got a couple of pictures of Cedar Falls from the roadside before going back to Ashy's house, where we watched The Princess Bride--she had never seen it before!
A thunderstorm finally did roll through, and she and I watched it through their back window, before going into her room to write up an LJ entry.

Sunday:
Dressed up for church, and then we headed out. The Pentacostal church is quite different from what I am used to, but it wasn't scary, and I didn't feel too uncomfortable, either. The sermon title was: "Where there's smoke, there's fire." I think I'll write up some of what I got from that later... After church I met the pastor, and he asked how Ashley and I were connected; he said something along the lines of "we won't hold that against you," referring to me being there because of her :-)
Back to Ashley's Grammy's house, this time for their traditional Sunday lunch, and Grammy's lemon poundcake made especially for me. I met a whole lot of people at the lunch: Donna, Benjamin, Hannah, Israel, Shannon, and Rhonda are the ones I remember as I'm writing this.
Eventually, Ashley and I left the hubbub to visit the Greenville Mall (not the one we went to the day before). Walked through a couple of shops, and ran into Kara and Adam. The four of us walked around some more, and we eventually ended up in the food court. All of us got Icees and sat down at a table. We noticed a couple interesting coincidences there: Adam and I were dressed similarly (blue shirt and khaki pants), and both of us had a grape slush; Kara and Ashley were dressed alike (white shirt and the same color skirt), and both of them had a cherry slush. Anyway, Adam took Kara to CompUSA while Ashley and I went to Bath and Body Works, where I picked out a Body Splash scent that I liked for her to wear (Sweet Pea).
We stopped back in at Ashley's Grammy's before going to church for the evening service, and I talked a bit more to her dad and Shannon while there.
Church in the evening was significantly different from the morning service, and I admit to being quite uncomfortable--stuff I had never seen or heard before was going on all around me...I guess I'm just not used to it, and it did leave me with a few questions. But, while I was there, Ashley's Papa prayed over me, and talked to me a bit, saying that I was a blessing to their family, and urging me to keep the faith, and to grow in it, and he gave me some food for thought on a couple spiritual matters...
Again, we snuggled on the couch to wrap up the day, and I found myself falling asleep in Ashy's arms, so she sent me to bed.

Monday:
Ashley woke me up with a kiss, and we talked for a while before I took my shower. Went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and my, do they serve some excellent pancakes! I would have liked more syrup, but they were delicious anyway.
We went to Simpsonville park after breakfast (and after I got some batteries for the camera), walked around, took a few pictures, and generally hung out.
Went back to her house to get a couple more pictures before I left.
Then we said the longest goodbye I have known. It was also the hardest goodbye I've known. We held each other and didn't want to let go...until finally I had to leave. She gave me a Care Bear (the Share Bear) to remember her by, and even sprayed it with the Sweet Pea "splash." I held that on my way home, and set it next to my computer. It still has the faint scent.

Otherwise:
I had a real hard time "getting back to normal." I missed her so, so very much that I did cry, but we had a couple-hour-long phone conversation to straighten me out. She's coming to see me over Christmas break! Now I've got something else to be excited about, even though it is 5.5 months away...
And for those of you who didn't see it before: Pictures!