Us Part 5

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the disgusting heat! I was living in Cali where 80 was the high (with a breeze) - not the low hahaha

I was shaking like a leaf, I knew Andrew wouldn't be at the airport cuz he had stuff to do first. So I get in the car with my parents and we're driving home and he texts me saying "I'll be there in like 10 minutes" thus more shaking ensues.

As I'm anxiously waiting for Andrew to arrive, I'm beginning to panic - a lot. I don't know what to do....go for a hug? Handshake? High five? How should I talk to him? SHOULD I talk to him? GAH! I was lying on the floor just trying to calm my pounding heart, I mean this was the moment I had been dreaming about for 2 years - I wanted it to be perfect.

I heard the doorbell - my heart skipped a full minute of beats - I heard my brother say "I'm his first Bowler hug! Mwahahaha" and attacked him. I saw him then for the first time and he looked GOOD! I had seen that he was skinnier than when he left, but I didn't realize how skinny he was! Such a twig ;) So he sees my whole family there (grandparents included) and goes around giving hugs to them since he hadn't seen them either obviously, while saying "Saving the best for last" to me.

After he hugged my mom, it was my turn and it was SOOOO awkward! Mostly because all eyes were on us in the room hahahaha but we hugged and I cried a bit then I said "Oh you probably want your clothes back huh??" and ran to my room to get the shirts he had had me store for him ;) Yeah I know not the best first encounter but ya know.....anyways.

So we go outside to get into the car to go spend some time with his fam, and I got a real true hug ;) No eyes watching, just him and me saying hey for the first time to just each other. BEST HUG EVER ;) Then we got in the car and went to the movies. We hadn't had a chance to really chat at all yet, and we couldn't during the movie. And his ENTIRE family was there watching us watch the movie....no pressure y'all....so after the movie ended we opted to walk to the restaurant rather than drive so we could try to have a conversation.

As we walked there, soon as we were out of the family's sight, he grabbed my hand ;) And then we sat on a bench for a few minutes and looked at each other. Andrew said "So still wanna do this?" I said "I waited didn't I? Hahahahaha" and then we walked hand in hand to the restaurant but he didn't want his family to know yet since he'd only been back 2 days which is understandable. After dinner with the fam, Andrew brought me home so we could each take a break after a pretty emotionally draining day hahaha as he left me at my door, he kissed me good night ;) Yeah he's not one to be subtle or slow - he's all gungho!

The next night we went to my brothers play on our first post mission date. We seem to have a thing for AYT plays being our first dates ;)

On Sunday he gave his homecoming talk, and I've never been prouder of him ;) He sounded amazing and he spoke a little in Spanish which was super hot let me tell you hahahaha ;) They had an open house for him afterwards and I went for a little bit, then I went home cuz I really hadn't seen my family and it was Sunday so I made dinner with Andrew's help that night for them.

*Enter sidenote that I forgot to mention earlier:  While he was gone, I had written in a separate journal just to him, kinda like letters to him that I couldn't send out. Turned out that Andrew had done the same thing for me without us saying anything to each other about it hahaha ;) That became my reading material for the plane ride and when I had bad days at work*

Monday I flew back to Cali to finish my internship, with a promise from Andrew to visit me at least once before I left.

...to be continued...