Dear Quentin,
Happy August! I miss your songs and stories. Remember how we used to find luminous, common things on the playground at recess? I will always remember that. You are one of the best people I know at finding luminous, common things.
I’m happy that you and your mom e-mailed me. You asked, “What are you going to do when you’re married?” Here is a long answer to your question, with plenty of pictures.
First, we sang and danced and played through our wedding day.
Lots of friends and family joined us, and we could feel the love of our friends and family who couldn’t be there, too.
David and I had a week off between our wedding and our honeymoon. We said goodbye to our families as they left town. We played with Ally and Jack, our niece and nephew.
I started packing up my apartment. This would have been hard if I didn’t have helpers. Some of my helpers used to be my students when they were younger!
At the end of the week, we drove up to Maine for our honeymoon.
I bought honey, and we watched the moon every night.
We relaxed in beautiful places like Acadia National Park.
We sampled delicious food, like pizza from a bakery that lives in a barn.
We kayaked in the afternoons.
We bought a beautiful pitcher so we could always say, “This is the pitcher we bought on our honeymoon.”
We took our over-sized rubber ducky to see the sights. His name is Big Duck. I’ll write his story some other time.
After our honeymoon, we had only four days left in Beverly. Early each morning, I sat at the beach and felt grateful.
I had a lot more packing and cleaning to do. I had a lot more help.
Even our cat Gus offered what he could.
Everyone should ask for help when they pack. You cry less and laugh more.
On Monday, I did my final volunteer shift for Jeanne at Empower Yoga. I will miss my Empower family tremendously.
On Tuesday night before we left, I went to book club. My book club friends gave me a funny picture from my wedding. They even Photoshopped in Suzanne, who is teaching in Namibia this summer.
At book club, we laughed and cried and ate good food. I gave my friends things that I found while I was packing: things I didn’t need anymore. They took almost everything, except my two old candy canes. They told me I should just throw away old candy canes, but I held out hope.
On Wednesday, some of our friends came by just to hug us and say farewell.
David’s cousin Mychal took the candy canes! I felt triumphant. I don’t have a picture of him with the candy canes, but I thought you’d like to see the face of the man who saved the candy canes from a sad, sad fate.
On Wednesday night, the night before we left, I went to dinner with a group of friends who used to be my students. I can hardly believe they’re adults now.
They each brought something to share.
(Aaron didn’t bring food. He brought a CD of pictures he took at our wedding!)
Quentin, someday when you’re grown up, let’s have dinner together. We will laugh and tell stories about when we were younger. We will feel dizzy with gratitude.
After dinner, I was driving home later than I expected. A fox ran across the road in front of my car! A fox is an auspicious sign when you’re about to start a new life. I couldn’t take a picture of that fox, of course, but I took a picture of a fox statue just yesterday. It’s down the street from our new home. (That’s auspicious, too.)
At home, several friends waited for me. They came to help me say goodbye to my apartment. We read poems by Rabindranath Tagore and John O’Donohue. All the lamps were packed away in the moving truck, so we turned on the light in the bathroom and David took a picture of us from there.
On Thursday morning we said farewell to Diane and Brad, who rented me my apartment and lived upstairs from me. They’re sweet and generous, and they’ve always looked out for me.
We hooked up our little red car to a dolly attached to our moving truck.
We began the four-day drive to our new life in Wichita, Kansas.
First we drove to Havertown, Pennsylvania, which is where my parents live.
My family gathered for dinner. We love them so much that we stayed up far past Lydia’s bedtime.
We left early Friday morning for our longest day of driving. We drove through New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, and most of Tennessee.
Poor Gus did not like being in the truck on the first day. He meowed a lot and wouldn’t use his litter box or eat his food. We were so relieved on the second day when he started to relax. Soon he was a trucker cat. He sat on our laps while we drove or napped.
On that second day we saw amazing things, like two different dollar stores right next to each other!
I was nervous about driving the big truck at first, but after some practice I loved it. Eventually I learned to to sit up on two pillows so I could see more of the road.
That night, 3.1 miles from our motel, we got stuck in a traffic jam. We sat in a long, long line of cars for three vast hours. Sometimes this happens in life, Quentin. You can be so close to what you want but feel light years away.
If this happens to you someday, I hope the person you love most will be sitting next to you.
I hope you will have a cat sitting on your dashboard while traffic speeds by in the opposite direction.
Our motel room wasn’t the most breathtaking place, but it felt like a miracle when we got there. We’d been on the road for 18 hours! Saturday morning I did some yoga to stretch out my stiff body. Gus helped.
That day we drove through Arkansas to Euless, Texas, where David’s parents Cheryl and Mark live. I’d never been there before.
Euless is close to Dallas, which is a big, spread-out city.
Sunday was Cheryl’s birthday. In the morning I made her a birthday frittata. Frittata is one of my favorite words, and it tastes good, too. Cheryl felt happy to see Gus on her birthday. Gus felt happy, too.
We went shopping at Ikea for some things for our new apartment. My favorite is this aqua kitchen cart that holds my new china blue mixer. When you grow up, you might get excited about goofy stuff like this, too.
In the afternoon, we hopped into the truck for the last part of our trip. We drove straight up through Oklahoma into Kansas, where we live now.
The highways in the Midwest look different than the highways in Massachusetts. There are fewer trees and more bales of hay.
There are plenty of cows. David and I both like to call out “Mooooooooooo!” when we see a cow. Sometimes I’ve even made a cow turn its head, but not from the car. Anyway, we did a lot of mooing on the way to Kansas.
At the last gas stop, the wind blew mightily, and my hair flapped behind me like a flag, and the sky yawned before us. I could feel in my bones that we were almost home, even though I’d never been there before.
We stayed in a hotel Sunday night because we couldn’t move in until Monday. To celebrate our arrival, we went to a drive-in restaurant and got a milkshake to share. I hadn’t had a milkshake in a long time, and it wasn’t as good as I remembered. Enjoy milkshakes while you’re young, Quentin.
On Monday morning, David went to a meeting for his new job. After his meeting, Gus and I were waiting outside our new apartment building in the truck.
Time to move in! We had help from a kind man named Gerald and his sons Tristan and Cody. We can’t imagine how difficult it would have been without them.
Our new apartment is on the tenth floor of a big apartment building right in the center of Wichita.
Across from the elevator in our hallway, there’s a painting of bananas. This pleased me because people sometimes call me Hannah Banana.
While we moved in, Gus the cat curled up next to the toilet and fell asleep. He must have been pretty worn out from the pressures of being a trucker cat.
Finally all our boxes and furniture lay stacked up in our new home. We felt exhausted and excited and hungry and happy.
There’s a lot more I could tell you, Quentin, but this is already a very long blog. Not everyone moves to Kansas after they get married. We came here because there is a good job for David here. He’ll be teaching theatre to middle school students.
I’ll be doing a bunch of stuff here, too, though I’m only starting to figure out what that stuff will be. While I’m figuring it out, I’ve been setting up our apartment, finding cool statues in town, and doing plenty of cooking.
I hope you’re having a fun summer. In Wichita, school will start this Wednesday. Isn’t that early? You have a few more weeks before you start first grade. You’ll go to the Hannah School. What an excellent name for a school! I know you’ll keep finding luminous, common things, and I hope you’ll share them with me from time to time.
Another day, I’ll write about some of the luminous, common things we’re finding in Wichita. Your mom said Wichita is one of the most beautiful place names ever, and I agree.
May there be peace before you, behind you, above you, below you, from your heart, to your lips, to everyone.
Your friend Hannah
I’d say this was one of your best entries ever Hannah, but really, that would be like saying “That was the best sunset ever!” when of course what you really mean is it was an especially good sunset amongst all those other great ones before. And either way, they all make you feel a little more grateful to be here to experience them.
Aw, you’re the sweetest, Doug! Thanks a million.
Just lovely, Hannah. Wishing you both all love in Wichita and beyond.
Thanks so much, Kat! Hope your summer is as divine as you.
Dear Hannah, I give you a googolplex gallons of love. We’re in Ohio, only halfway to you from Beverly. If you move halfway back to Beverly, you’ll find me singing way-oh-oh-oh-way-oh-way. The cat next to the toilet was amazing. Whoa. XOXOXOXO. Googolplex XOXOXO ten times. I love having you as a teacher. I want to send you a letter with tons of little beats of Quentin life. Best Quentin 803A699Q.
Hello, halfway friend! Can’t wait to get your letter with little beats of Quentin life! There couldn’t be anything sweeter.
Dear Hannah,
I hope you have a guest room in that heavenly abode of yours because I am definitely going to visit. I smiled like a lovesick loon the whole time that I read this. You are SUCH a great writer and I miss you already!
CRYING!! What a beauty to behold, this life of yours.
Thank you, Hannah.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey with you and David and Gus across our beautiful country. I feel like I was with you! Sending many blessings to you all.
What a wonderful story to read…you are a great writer and it sounds like your adventure is off to a fantastic start! So glad you are keeping us posted on what is happening. Enjoy!
Thanks for heart warming photo-logue!
Best wishes for good in your new life.
Looking forward to seeing you September 4.
XOXO
A
Hannah,
This was lovely and I wish you both all the best. You two are the cutest couple since Ricky and Lucy. Good luck in your new life!
What a charmed life you are living! Enjoy every moment my dear!
Sweet! Love You both.
Hi Hannah- I miss seeing your smile so it was wonderful to see you and your husband David in so many pictures and writings. Gus is a trooper of a cat and I’m fond of your duck. I have a duck . His name is Conall and lives outside. Thanks for sharing so well and dearly. I’m glad Gus likes to do yoga with you too. -jeannie
Wonderful summary of an extraordinary summer! Beautiful pictures. You seem so happy. Congratulations and countless blessings to you and your groom! I will forever remember this classically beautiful line:
“At the last gas stop, the wind blew mightily, and my hair flapped behind me like a flag, and the sky yawned before us. I could feel in my bones that we were almost home, even though I’d never been there before.”
May God bless you in your new “home” — wherever you may be.
What a wonderful way to experience your journey: quite an event-filled experience since we said goodbye on the morning after your wedding and took our own long trip to western NY state!
I love the perspective of sharing it in a meaningful way with a young friend whose life will undoubtedly be filled with many journeys as well…
Sounds like you are settling in, and exploring your world in your own truly unique way 🙂 Give your hubby a hug from me!
Love you bunches, and hope to see you soon – Lisa
Dearest Hannah,
I was reading this beautiful story with very mixed emotions. On the one hand I am SO very happy for you and David! On the other, your presence will be sorely missed on the North Shore! I know that our paths have not crossed lately but I will always have the early memories of meeting you at Empower during those challenging times in our life. You were a great help to me at the time and I will never forget it. Isn’t it wonderful to have crossed to the other side? Maybe someday I will chronicle my journey to Tampa Bay, Florida! Ernie and I are happily engaged plan to marry in 2 years. Wishing you peace and happiness.
Hannah,
I came across your blog as I searched for pictures of 250 Douglas Place on twitter; I’ll be moving there next week. I initially just looked at the pics you had on Twitter, but then noticed you write a blog. I have absolutely loved reading your entries! I’ve lived in this area the majority of my life, so it was great seeing a perspective from someone new to the area. I know you and your husband will be moving back east soon, but thank you for taking the time to write about your journey here. I thoroughly enjoy your work and hope many others have the chance to get lost in the words you type; keep submitting your work! This particular blog entry was absolutely adorable and entrancing, I found myself near tears as I could sense the warmth you emanate. Best wishes to you, and I look forward to reading about your path through life.
Rhiannon
Wow, Rhiannon, your comment totally made my day! Thanks a million for reading. I’ve really learned to love the Midwest in my brief time here. Please stay in touch!
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