things I think about during late night drives

I just got back from Newark Airport. Yep, check the time. I've had a bit of caffeine to make that happen, so figured I'd try to burn a little of it off through blogging.

I volunteered to drive my friend/officemate/academic companion Irene and her parents to the airport. They were flying home to Venezuela, where I will hopefully someday visit them, and Irene was flying to the Yucatan for a season of field work, continuing work for the EDGY project that we're a part of. I wanted to see my friend off, but also, let's be honest, I'm always up for a drive somewhere.

I borrowed mom's car because it's bigger than mine. Pro: working music playing system. I finally got to listen to a mix I made myself on my birthday ("Thanksgiving: Thankful for Josh Ritter", which had been sitting silently in my suicidal CD player since Thanksgiving till tonight). Con: Mom's new Altima has that weird new kind of transmission that doesn't feel like it's shifting, which is more confusing to experience than it probably sounds, but definitely more so because driving stick shift is deeply ingrained in my brain. (Don't worry Mom, I did not engage your e-brake thinking it was the clutch.)

It was a pleasant drive. Irene gave me a pep talk for my upcoming thesis defense, which she will sadly miss. No one was on the road because it was 2:30AM. It was clear and cool. No problem.

I already miss mi amiga Irene!

Driving home, I made a slight detour that has a warm fuzzy theme to it. Yesterday, for my work at Johnsonburg, I was talking with a woman who wanted to help promote camp in her own church. She requested some brochures and other information to hand out to families in her congregation. When she sent me her address, I realized it was only slightly off the route I was taking tonight. I wrote to this woman, telling her "I hope this doesn't come across as creepy" and asking if I could drop them off in the middle of the night on her porch and save camp some postage. Her response? "Not creepy! We're camp people!" I may have mentioned once or twice that I love the greater community that camp creates. I've never met this woman, only exchanged emails, but we're camp people. That's enough. I realize that dropping off a package to her home in the middle of the night probably doesn't require an amazing relationship, but her response made me smile. That community has allowed me to travel hotel-free through the United Kingdom and gave me some semblance of family while I was away at Mary Washington. It's given me some awesome, encouraging friends near Rutgers. It's welcomed me back for a few more months till I figure out what's next. How warm and fuzzy is that?

Of course, I'm rather fortunate in that camp is not the only strong community I have in my life. There are a lot of fabulous people at Rutgers who have greatly helped me through this Masters thingy. It just so happens one needed a ride to Newark Airport this morning, and driving her was the very least I could do.

These are the sorts of things I need to keep in focus during the crazy next few weeks of my life. Defense in two weeks; my first job interview in two and a half weeks; some holidays between now and then; that paper to finish... I should get some sleep if I intend to work on it today...