February 21, 2004
Arrivals
I made it into Harrisburg last night around 10:15, after a rather uneventful flight. I wound up going through Detroit instead of Dulles due to a delay in Nashville, but I got there, so it's all good.
People here are in pretty good spirits. I was worried that things would be pretty bad, but they're not. I guess when someone dies after a long illness it can be as much a relief as a loss. True, they're gone, but in some sense they had been for a while, and everyone has had time to deal with that.
I'm going to be pretty busy these next few days. Today we're having a family dinner at my folk's place, so my brother and I are going to be out and about making that happen. The viewing is tomorrow night in Wilmington, DE, where my mom grew up and my grandparents lived until last year. The funeral is Monday morning. I fly home on Tuesday.
Waking up this morning I experienced something that reminded me of what it was like living here. The power was out. This seems to happen with depressing regularity for some reason or another.
Didn't happen in Lancaster County. I have a feeling there's a significant difference between the two of us: I miss the place where I grew up.
Posted by: Evan Donovan at February 22, 2004 12:35 AMIt was just my neighborhood that lost power all the time. Don't really know why. But to give you an idea about the kind of utility service we got, when in the mid 90s we asked for a second phone line for our Internet, it took about two weeks. Turns out the phone company had been building up requests in our neighborhood because they had to install a whole new group of lines to meet the demand, and were waiting as long as possible.
I really don't miss central PA. There's nothing to do, and most of the people I love aren't there. I do have a few friends that I miss, and I obviously miss my family, but other than that I'd rather be in TN. Oh, I do miss Utz potato chips.
Posted by: ryan at February 22, 2004 6:36 AMI have been eating your bag of Utz. I didn't want them to spoil while you were gone. Bring more.
Hope you're holding up OK.
Posted by: mesh at February 22, 2004 5:53 PMMost of my friends still live in that general area, but I have a feeling that won't be true forever. But if they all move to Philly, as seems likely...
As for the nothing-to-do issue, I think it's really what you make of it. As long as there's theaters and Waffle Houses, I'm happy.
Utz! I'd forgotten about that... Overall though, I like the junk-food situation in the South better. Fresh Krispy Kremes, Chick-Fil-As, etc.
Posted by: Evan Donovan at February 26, 2004 10:55 PM