Counting On Both Hands

Its been 4 months since i got back to charlotte and in that time i moved in with my friend, got a job, got back into Rugby, saw all my friends and family, became an Uncle, was visited by my Swiss girlfriend, and countless other random experiences.
Once i got back into the US i flew into the Atlanta airport and had a 5 hour layover in which i had to figure out how the heck i was gonna get... I would say home but I didnt really have one when i got back... I had sold my car, gave away my tv, put all my stuff in my moms storage unit and left some with my dad, and i had worked so hard and gave up so much to get to Europe and learn something about myself that i didnt stop to think for a second what the heck i was gonna do when i got back... but after a few phone calls i got my good and trusty friend Matt to scoop me up from the airport. As i got in i lugged all my crap off the plane and got all my stuff from the baggage claim and looked around for all of two minutes until i saw the face of my good friend and current roommate Matt. It was pure excitement to see a friendly, familiar face after 4 months of new faces and new places. To be back home was so comforting and relaxing and it came like a wave of soft blankets, for lack of better description haha. so we got all my stuff in the car and like a true friend and gentleman Matt had a fresh, cold beer waiting for me that went down as smoothly as any drink ive ever had. We got into Matt's apartment (know my apartment to) and i told him what there was to tell of the trip and had a few more beers and called it a night. Over the next days i didnt bother looking for a job i just enjoyed seeing everyone that i had missed for months!! parties, dinners, and nights on the town followed with amazing frequency and it all was a blur of beers, huge meals and hugs and kisses from those who i had thought of and thought of me. What was interesting to me was to see how things had changed in a relatively short amount of time like 4 months. some people hadn't changed a bit, as i expected, but other relationships had changed completely, some because I had changed and others because they had changed. Things change and so do people and its a complicated concept, the fabric of a relationship, one or two small changes and the whole thing comes unraveled. not always bad an sometimes needed but always hard to deal with. As I felt out all the relationships I had when I left it was nice to see that i still had friends and family that wanted to see me and hear what i had seen and experienced. To tell me that they loved me and wanted to hear that i loved them to. Its nice to be able to count the people that you can look to in times of need and and times of plenty and even better when you know exactly who they are and can count on both hands. It really is a comforting and amazing feeling.
With these relationships that have lasted i have begun to make a new life for myself, not so different looking from the outside but completely different looking out from the inside. I no longer worry what i will do next with my life. I no longer am unsatisfied with the things and people around me. I no longer feel like my skin doesnt fit quite right and i feel like the path im on is exactly where i should be because it is the path that i am making with my own two hands with the help of the people that i love and that love me back.