Here it is. The entire month of September for the year 2000. Don't you just feel like a part of my life? Doesn't it make you all warm & fuzzy inside to know that I'm sharing a part of myself with you? I know it does. Read on, starting from the bottom.
September 14th, 2000: So, I sent my dear, sweet Michael off to college on August 24th. I'm not sure how I feel about that quite yet, mostly because I don't know how Mike feels, and well, I certainly can't feel any differently than he does, because that would mean risking control of the relationship (which, by the way, I've never had but only tell myself that I have to preserve my sanity). I pictured a "you're incredible; why am I leaving you?" good-bye with "I'm going to miss you more than I ever thought capable" undertones, but it was more of a "see ya later" and a pat on the back than even a real good-bye.
We rented Cider House Rules on the Sunday before he left, and things between us were just as I wanted them to be. All of the nastiness from the end of the school year was forgotten, and the atmosphere from the perfect summer of 1999 was still lingering. We tried to get pizza, but the place had closed fifteen minutes before we got there, so we just went back to Mike's and attempted to find something to eat. I offered to whip up boxed potatoes and anything else in his cabinets, but Mike was not impressed with his mom's shopping skills (or skeelz, if you're so inclined, which I am not). So, we sat around his kitchen table, attempting to think of something to eat, and we lapsed into talk of college and drinking and Heath, as we always do. After an hour or so of just sitting and discussing, Mike suddenly asked if I was hungry, and I really wasn't anymore, so he just arranged some cheese and crackers on a plate, and we started the movie. During the preview to some sort of 18th Century-type movie, Mike mentioned the fact that he would like to live in England in the future and have an 18th Century home. In fact, he asked if I would like to someday own an 18th Century home with him in England. I love the randomness of the things he says and the fact that he instantly forgets that he even says half of the things that he does. I hate that our relationship means much more to me than it does to him, so much more, in fact, that I remember the random things that he says even when he has forgotten them from the moment they were spoken.
While watching the movie, I realised what my absolute favourite thing about Mike is and the thing that I'm going to miss the most. Mike is highly amusing, and he knows that he's highly amusing, but like any highly amusing person who knows that he's highly amusing, Mike doesn't want everyone else to know that he knows that he's highly amusing. So, when he says something that makes me laugh and he begins to laugh himself, he does this nose-crinkling thing that supresses him. I like it. I think I'll miss it.
The next day, I picked Mike up at noon, and we headed to COSI. I don't know why I can't seem to stay away from that darn place on my days off, but I'm getting to the point where I have to start thinking about getting ready for a new section of my life, and COSI seems really safe right now. We walked around and did all the usual while Mike yelled at me for not talking to more people and everyone stared and wondered who Mike is. We ate vanilla Dippin' Dots, which I had never done before but had always longed to. We then decided that we were hungry for actual food and left to seek some out.
On our way home, Mike remembered that Jonathan and his family were coming to his house for dinner, so we headed there. Nobody was home when we arrived, so we started watching Cider House Rules again, since I had fallen asleep in the middle of it the night before. Jon's family came halfway through the movie, and Mike made me turn it off to save them from the non-existent dirty, nasty sex that courses through its veins . . . or something like that. So, we ate dinner. And I talked to Jon's parents about college . . . a lot. Then, Mike's sister and I pretended to try to kill each other while Mike went off with Jon to have some homosexual experiences . . . or something. I finished Karen off and went to find Mike. He was in the process of burning a couple of CDs of mine before he left for Illinois, and when he handed me back my new Peter Stuart EP and seemed totally disinterested in it, I told him that he's so like that, unwilling to give anything new a chance. Jon tried to defend him and all, saying that Mike has incredibly electic taste in music, when in fact, Mike has the same taste in music that all guys who go his route do. You've got your rap men, your pop men, and your wannabe-alternative men. I'm fine with that and all, but I feel like he could at least admit to it. So, he basically told me to get out, and I did. So, you know, good way to end things, obviously.
The next day, Mike got online right before he left and told me that I would find my Jump, Little Children case empty, because he had forgotten to put the CD back inside of it. I'd like to think that he had forgotten to put it back inside just to get me over to his house one more time before he left, but I really don't think that Mike is nearly as manipulative as I am, so I'm going to assume that it really was just an accident. But alas, I had plans with Sam and Tracey, so I had to say an online good-bye.
And that was that.