My Involvement with the Amish: The Last Night in Potsdam

A General Update Involving My Relationship Status, My Run-In with Border Patrol, and When I Hugged Max Goodbye

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t go out with a bang, would I? My last few hours involved breaking up with Zach (though I’m currently sitting on his bed while he gets a movie ready for us), getting pulled over by Border Patrol (I really was acting suspicious), hugging everyone I know goodbye (I kissed Jordan!), and maybe a bit more of the typical craziness. And I wasn’t even successful in getting Mom that Amish quilt she wanted.

I’m Kinda Single
Zach and I decided to become single on Facebookland on Thursday, the day he finished his finals and went back home. Not 45 minutes later I received a text from a kid back home: “Sooo…..single?”

But it’s not like Zach and I went “ok, it’s been real. See ya in a decade or two.” I left Potsdam yesterday to drive out to Zach’s house and spend the weekend with him and his family, then I’m driving to the airport from here on Sunday. I see him one last time when I fly back to Potsdam in January to grab my car and move South.

We watched the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show together last night and are spending all day doing nothing together today. I’m adding 6 extra hours of driving to my life so I can have this last weekend with him. I think we’re still “us.” Just not on Facebook, and maybe not for much longer.

So I guess we’re broken up but still together? I can’t give you a difinitive confirmation on this one.

You’ll Never Believe Why Border Patrol Pulled Me Over
Since I’ve lived in Potsdam, Mom has been wanting me to get her an Amish quilt. I naturally saved the task for the last possible day and headed out to Canton, the village 10 miles over with a slightly higher Amish population than Potsdam, and hunted for Amish folk. I found an Amish stand almost immediately; they had only one quilt for sale. It was small; maybe 3ftx3ft. I wasn’t sure what it’s purpose was. It was $80. If I could get one a bit bigger for as much as $150, I was going to take it. Hey, it’s only two paychecks.

I drove a little further into town and found a local store that sells Amish products. The big quilts weren’t for sale; they were hundreds of dollars anyway. All this store had that was in my price range was more of those little ones, though they were $150. To heck with that; I decided to turn around to get the $80 quilt from the Amish roadside stand and pass it off to my Mom as a wall hanging.

The catch was that when I saw them the first time, they were starting to pack up for the day – so I had to go fast. I also wasn’t sure which gas station they were set up in front of, so it took me several attempts of pulling off the road into various gas stations looking for them.

By the time I pulled into the third gas station, I had found an Amish buggy but was fairly certain it was the wrong one. I looked around for a second to see if the owner of the buggy was nearby so I could ask him about quilts and where I might find the people selling them.

And then that’s when I see the officer pull in next to me. It had been about two months since the last time I got pulled over; I was due for a check-in with the police.

He had noticed me pulling in and out of every gas station in Canton and thought it looked suspicious. The next couple of minutes were spent explaining to him why I was a Californian going to school in Potsdam and why I needed to get a quilt for my Mom for Christmas. I think he got a kick out of it.

And you know what? He was cute too. If only I remembered that I was single so I could flirt with him a bit more…

He let me go without a fuss. I continued on the road and saw the correct gas station was the next one over, but the quilt-sellers were gone. Sorry mom, I did not get you one. I have a cute Border Patrol officer who can verify that I tried. I will try again when I am back in January.

I Bid Adieu to…Everyone
I am sorry if I did not see you before I left. Leaving always seems to come in waves and no one ever wants to say goodbye until they are sure that is the last time they will see that person. You realize your unpredictable life is a problem when you realize you’re leaving in 45 minutes and there are thousands of faces going through your mind of people that you want to see one last time that you haven’t given a proper goodbye to.

I wish I said goodbye to the guy who owns the local craft store. I wish I hunted down all the advisors and professors that made a difference. I wish I found Artemis the neighborhood cat and took a final nap with him.

I said goodbye to all of my housemates (except Jesse…sorry Jesse!). It’s weird; it’s hard to fathom that it is the last time you will see them for a very, very long time. It doesn’t sink in and it’s almost hard to take seriously. Saying goodbye to Max and Jordan was particularly rough. I kissed Jordan goodbye. Those two have had such an impact on me.

The Plan From Here
I drive from Zachland to Syracuse Airport (4 hours) tomorrow morning to catch my midday flight to Los Angeles. I will be home for a couple of weeks and then will fly back to Syracuse on January 8th. I will pack up Mrs. Potts, say goodbye to Zach (I will mostly likely be an emotional shitshow), then drive down to Montgomery, Alabama.

I will stay at either a hotel or a friend’s couch in Montgomery until job training in DC on January 13ish. By the way, if you know anyone in Montgomery with a couch and a shower for me I am all ears. All of January looks like job training in various parts of the country, then my gig starts at the tail end of the month. I will move into an apartment (one that I have not found yet) on February 1st.

I really hope I passed all my finals.