46. Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Six
Jackie
“ J ackie Delaney is baaacck, y’all!”
I hear Sebastian’s voice before I even turn onto my street. And then when I round the corner, I see them: all my friends crowded together on my front lawn to welcome me home, cheering and whooping and hollering. With Richard and Meryl standing in front, cheering the loudest.
There are burgers and hot dogs on the grill, potato salad and lemonade and chips and more of Meryl’s homemade squares and baking than we’ll be able to eat in one evening. I hug and laugh and catch up with everyone, scroll through photos of my trip and pour over photos from my friends’ summer here in Sandy Haven.
I am even more nostalgic than I thought I would be as I swipe through photos from my trip. And proud for going ten weeks where every day and every place was new and different. But gosh, is it ever good to be home . Is it ever amazing to be in my own back yard, in a space that holds years of memories, and people who are all familiar.
“Sebastian and Xave are having a lemon square eating contest!” Mel Lanhart squeals, grabbing my sleeve and tugging me toward the dessert table. “Loser has to offer to sing the National Anthem at the first game of the season!”
And of course I follow her, because this is something I cannot miss.
I’m glad I’ve become better at dealing with change and handling unfamiliar situations. But also, I’m even happier to see that some things never change. And I know in a few days, I’ll be back to school and there will be homework and tests to study for and college applications to fill out and friend drama to deal with… but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I like my life, and I have no regrets.
Even though I spent my entire summer running a cookie business only to realize I don’t even like baking cookies, I’m still glad I did it. I like that instead of it being about me working toward my carefully laid-out plan, it became about getting comfortable with sometimes deviating from the plan, and adapting and failing and being able to laugh at my failures and celebrate successes I didn’t even know were in my future.
But for now, I just bask in the moment. It’s a perfect evening. Perfect, except I can’t help thinking of Silas every few minutes. He was such a big part of my adventure, and such a big part of the changes I’ve gone through over the past couple of months. And I wish he could be a part of this, too.
But I understand that he’s on his own journey right now, spending his last few days in rehab, and will probably be busy for the next little while after that, settling into his new home. With his new family. Hopefully finding his new “familiar”.
And I’m going to have to get used to navigating my own already familiar world, only with an entirely new perspective. Because I really am a different person today than I was when I left over two months ago.
Not that I’m going to be tossing my color-coded stickie notes out any time soon. I still think they are the best invention since the day-planner. But I will force myself to free-style every once in a while. Go wild and crazy and attend a party with people I’ve never met before. Or sign up for a few courses that don’t fit with any sort of mental outline I have for my future.
“Jackie… “ Richard’s voice interrupts my thoughts. “There’s someone at the front door to see you.”
I’m confused, because I don’t understand why he doesn’t just tell them to join the rest of us out in the yard. And also, I’m pretty sure every single one of my friends is already here. But Richard nods toward the house again, and I set down my glass of lemonade to go see who’s at the door.