You ARE NOT going to believe this

Seriously.  You're not... unless you knew about it beforehand. (Long blog, it's worth the read.)

Let me set the scene for you.  Saturday afternoon, beautiful day in Pittsburgh, one of the last few weekends that I'm still going to be living in the Pittsburgh area.  The following is the day from my point of view...

I set my alarm for 7am on Saturday morning.  People don't do that 'just because', in case you are wondering.  Not on a Saturday. Shannon and I were participating in a 5k walk on the North Shore.  Tangent: Of course we decide that these types of community events are fun one week before I leave.  FANTASTIC! Boo.

By the time we finished the walk, it was about 10am.  Not only did we decide to go get breakfast at that point since I had only eaten a banana and Shannon only had a granola bar, but we decided that the place we absolutely had to go to was IHOP.  I hadn't been to the IHOP on the way to the Waterfront yet and obviously my life would not be complete unless I made a visit before I moved out of town.  Tangent: The last time I was in an IHOP, I was wee and I think I threw up in the dining room.  I didn't even make it to the bathroom.  You can ask Dr. Barry for the details, but I can't promise you he will remember.  It's safe to assume that this is the reason why I haven't been to an IHOP since.


So, we get Holden, the stroller and us into the car and I navigate Shannon to 376.  At that point, we're happy, we're laughing, we're driving in the hamster car on a gorgeous day and BAM! - stuck in a flippin' traffic jam.  At first, our response is, "aw man! This stinks!"  Then we get hungry and after 5 minutes of not moving, in addition to Shannon's road rage kicking in, our happy, fun moods turn sour.  We convinced ourselves it was the Raptor.  (Yes, like the dinosaur.)  At that point, Holden is the calmest one in the vehicle - and the reason is because he has an awesome obsession with his thumb.  Tangent:  I'm so excited that my nephew sucks his thumb.  It's seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my entire life... next to the elephant butts at the San Diego Zoo and the little wee chipmunks that live in Schenley Park. 

Finally, Shannon, Holden and I make it to IHOP.  It is now 11am.  In my attempt to make a long story short, I'll skip all of the details about our IHOP trip except that Shannon and I received our order around noon and almost each ate 1.5 meals.  My plan for the day after breakfast was to go home, pack up a few boxes, shower, and get lunch with my two friends/co-workers, Heather and Marilyn.  They had asked me a few weeks ago to go out with them before I moved away.  We decided on Joe Mama's and we were meeting at 2:45pm.  Marilyn had asked if I wanted to carpool, I said sure.  She was picking me up at 2:30pm.  Fabulous.


Get in the car, drive to Oakland, park on Oakland Ave and walk into Joe Mamas.
Hostess says, "Yes, I just seated them upstairs.  Follow me."
We walk up the stairs, she points the the side room.
And I see people I know.  Hmm, that's weird.  
And then I realize that I know every single person in the room.
And then I hear them all scream "surprise."
And then I burst into tears. 


I'm not sure that's what typically happens when a group of people scream "Surprise!" but I couldn't do anything but cry.  Tangent:  It's been determined, since then, that I'm actually a pretty crier and it makes me cute and endearing.  Bonus points for Steph.


My friends threw me, and actually attended, a surprise going away party.  Supposedly, this surprise party has been in the works since Shannon was on Maternity Leave with Holden. To give you some perspective, she went back to work in March. 

My reaction and feelings on the subject:

Tangent:  I like to talk about my feelings.  If you don't want feelings, this is not a blog for you to read.  

I can't believe that I had no idea that this was actually happening.  I can't believe that Shannon spent all morning with me and didn't ruin the surprise at all.  In addition, I can't believe that she got home, picked up my brother with the cake, changed Holden and headed back to Oakland in such a short time.  I can't believe that I balled like a baby about having to leave Pittsburgh.  I can't believe that I have such awesome people in my life and I'm going to have to live without them being near me physically when I'm in California.  It's a hard concept to grasp - the leaving part - but I know that I will always have a home to come back to as long as my "Pittsburgh family" members are here. 

Tangent:  For those of you that were there, I completely forgot to say how excited I am to leave.  I'm so excited.  I'm going to be with Scott.  But when touching things like this happen, and I get worked up, words don't always come out the way I intend them to.  So yes, I'm extremely sad that I'm leaving the people that I've met and have grown to love dearly and if I could take you all with me, I would, but being with Scott right now is a top priority.   

 Lesson Learned:   I am loved.  Thank you for loving me.  And you are going to miss me, hands down.  Don't forget me.  And actually, I'm not that worried because I know I won't let you forget about me. 

But remember, while you're sad because you're going to miss one person - I'm missing everyone I'm leaving in Pittsburgh... and that's a lot of people.