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Oddly enough I've been crashing early and waking early since I've been back. I should call people and let them know I'm back, but I can't see anything on my phone. So that's trouble. I guess I'm just trying to hold on to the end of the last thing that happened to me and keep a new one from happening for awhile.
The last day. It's a little bit of a blur. We sang a real Sunday service in the morning, procession and everything. It was much less rehearsed than anything else we'd done, but we got through it. Ending in the Lady Chapel, in nearly random order of rows after processing, was a jolt. The whole week hardly seemed real, but that was a change that reminded me for some reason of how this had been the first time through for this workshop, and things had worked out so well despite it.
We had two hours of free time before the last Evensong, so Carine and I jaunted off to buy our faculty presents (she'd collected a pound from each of the participants for this purpose). Many inside jokes were had; a belt, some bells, a toy trumpet, and an earring to replace the blue one he lost. We'd also got a card for everyone to sign (one for him, one (and some wine and chocolate) for Laurence, our patient school matron, and one (and flowers) for our note-basher Rachel Smith). We put quotes of his from the week on the card, too; he read them at the last tea.
For we had our last Evensong (which went exceptionally well), and then a goodbye tea with everyone in the dining hall of the Chantry. People drifted out slowly, until even Stephen was gone and it was just me, Parker, Martin, and Clara left. Martin knew the way to Exeter University where he was staying the last night before setting out in the morning (and so was Clara), so Parker and I walked with them down the hill to it. Parker told me later in the airport that he felt like we were walking down the hill, holding hands with Martin, going "look what we found!" and I agree. It was all very conscious of the lack of time we had left, but it was lovely nonetheless.
Martin showed us the beautiful University of Exeter campus and the room he was staying in, and we hung out with an ever-increasing sense of the urgency of time left. Parker and I didn't have train tickets back to Heathrow yet, so Martin walked us to the station to check times. There were some left, but they were too soon for us to go far, so we had (very English) dinner at the restaurant across the street from the train station and tried not to mention how much we'd miss each other.
Eventually time came for the train, and Martin accompanied us to the platform to wait for it. He hadn't brought a jacket, so he was chilly, so I gave him a hug, and it started to really hit me that I was leaving and the week of perfect magical awesome was really over. I don't know why it hit me so hard, but he looked down at me and said "you're so small" and I nearly fell apart right then. But the train came, and I hugged him goodbye (not goodbye, but seeya), looked at him, hugged him again, and got on the train. And looked at him through the window, and needed a hug; Parker gave me one, and I looked out the window and started crying for real. He came closer, and we did that thing that's always so hard to believe in the movies, the hands on each side of the glass. The window opened, so we held hands through the window till the train started moving, and when I couldn't see him anymore I sat on the floor of the back of the traincar and cried for the first hour of the ride.
There were some travel fiascos; Parker's ticket had been canceled, we slept on the floor of the airport, we were canceled and delayed in O'Hare, but we each made it home. The ticket he got was even on my flight, two seats away from me. And the nine hours in Chicago was just more time to hang out together, between checking gates to see if they'd been changed (usually they had).
I made it home around 1 in the morning, and was drained and slightly devastated for a couple days. It felt like I made it all up, even considering the documentation all over facebook.
But. Let it be known; Parker and Martin conference-skyped me in the middle of writing this entry. We even found a third-party video room so we could all see each other at the same time. Totally made my day.
The last day. It's a little bit of a blur. We sang a real Sunday service in the morning, procession and everything. It was much less rehearsed than anything else we'd done, but we got through it. Ending in the Lady Chapel, in nearly random order of rows after processing, was a jolt. The whole week hardly seemed real, but that was a change that reminded me for some reason of how this had been the first time through for this workshop, and things had worked out so well despite it.
We had two hours of free time before the last Evensong, so Carine and I jaunted off to buy our faculty presents (she'd collected a pound from each of the participants for this purpose). Many inside jokes were had; a belt, some bells, a toy trumpet, and an earring to replace the blue one he lost. We'd also got a card for everyone to sign (one for him, one (and some wine and chocolate) for Laurence, our patient school matron, and one (and flowers) for our note-basher Rachel Smith). We put quotes of his from the week on the card, too; he read them at the last tea.
For we had our last Evensong (which went exceptionally well), and then a goodbye tea with everyone in the dining hall of the Chantry. People drifted out slowly, until even Stephen was gone and it was just me, Parker, Martin, and Clara left. Martin knew the way to Exeter University where he was staying the last night before setting out in the morning (and so was Clara), so Parker and I walked with them down the hill to it. Parker told me later in the airport that he felt like we were walking down the hill, holding hands with Martin, going "look what we found!" and I agree. It was all very conscious of the lack of time we had left, but it was lovely nonetheless.
Martin showed us the beautiful University of Exeter campus and the room he was staying in, and we hung out with an ever-increasing sense of the urgency of time left. Parker and I didn't have train tickets back to Heathrow yet, so Martin walked us to the station to check times. There were some left, but they were too soon for us to go far, so we had (very English) dinner at the restaurant across the street from the train station and tried not to mention how much we'd miss each other.
Eventually time came for the train, and Martin accompanied us to the platform to wait for it. He hadn't brought a jacket, so he was chilly, so I gave him a hug, and it started to really hit me that I was leaving and the week of perfect magical awesome was really over. I don't know why it hit me so hard, but he looked down at me and said "you're so small" and I nearly fell apart right then. But the train came, and I hugged him goodbye (not goodbye, but seeya), looked at him, hugged him again, and got on the train. And looked at him through the window, and needed a hug; Parker gave me one, and I looked out the window and started crying for real. He came closer, and we did that thing that's always so hard to believe in the movies, the hands on each side of the glass. The window opened, so we held hands through the window till the train started moving, and when I couldn't see him anymore I sat on the floor of the back of the traincar and cried for the first hour of the ride.
There were some travel fiascos; Parker's ticket had been canceled, we slept on the floor of the airport, we were canceled and delayed in O'Hare, but we each made it home. The ticket he got was even on my flight, two seats away from me. And the nine hours in Chicago was just more time to hang out together, between checking gates to see if they'd been changed (usually they had).
I made it home around 1 in the morning, and was drained and slightly devastated for a couple days. It felt like I made it all up, even considering the documentation all over facebook.
But. Let it be known; Parker and Martin conference-skyped me in the middle of writing this entry. We even found a third-party video room so we could all see each other at the same time. Totally made my day.