Nashville.

As sad as I was to say goodbye to PCB and Florida in general 

today I was happier than ever to be on my way to NASHVILLE to see KATHY!!! --

My best friend from New Zealand. 

This visit had been loooong over due and I simply could not wait to see her!

 We got on the road a little bit ahead of schedule and left Florida around ten am; 

I took pilot position while Hallie took co-pilot with the other two in the backseat. 

It was again a beautiful day, which made the drive nice. 

We were making good timing until the boarder of Alabama/Tennessee where we hit a horrible storm. 

It suddenly started down pouring so bad that I almost pulled over because I couldn’t see the road. 

After about twenty minutes it had somewhat passed us and we were able to get back on track. 

We finally got into Nashville and reached Kathleen’s house around 7p.m.

 As soon as we pulled up to her house she ran out of the house, 

I ran from the car, and we ran and just hugged each other. 

I immediately started crying because I had missed this girl so damn much. 

The funny thing is we were both dressed almost the exact same as when we had left each other so we kept commenting how “you are exactly how I left ‘cha” 

Robin and Willy Diehl were amazing hosts! 

They had prepared an awesome meal; steak, potatoes, bread, salad and a delicious dessert for us 

along with wine for the entire evening. They gave us more than we could have asked for 

and I am so extremely grateful for their kind hospitality. 

The whole evening Kathleen and I just sat and talked and talked reminisced and caught up. 

Pretty sure every one is sick of our New Zealand stories by now but we didn’t care.

 I was just so happy to finally meet her parents in person, see her house, and meet her beloved 

Golden Retriever, Riley. Her friends Sarah and Hunter also came over so that we could finally 

meet in person and just to chat and entertain for a while. 

My roommates all went to bed somewhat early which was fine by me 

because all I really wanted to do was be selfish and keep Kathleen to myself so that we could catch up and be like old times again. 

Her and I sat up and talked about everything under the sun,

 read through her old NZ blog and

 watched our favorite movie Garden State just as we did often nights in Dunedin.

 It was one of the best feelings to have her back in my life, even if it was for just a really short time. 

The entire night when it was just she and I sitting up, I got a familiar knot in my stomach that I can only remember getting two other times. 

Once when I left Jake for New Zealand and the other when I left New Zealand for home.

 It was a feeling of dread, because I knew that in a few short hours these moments of complete happiness would soon be over and I would be ripped away from something that I care about so much.

:(