Carpet
Sitting at the gate with gaudy green carpet. It’s flecked with yellow and red with intermittent blue stripes. It’ll be the first time in the air in two years— but instead of heading to Montana it’s Georgia. And instead of a chill party weekend it’ll be a trouble twins American road trip as we blast from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
Midway across the South I’ll receive an email that will change my life. It’s weird to be sitting on a thinly padded blue chair welded to the ground above this iconic carpet and know that in a couple of days I’ll learn if I’ll be moving to Japan.
The weirdest part is that regardless of the decision— the hardest part will be over. There’s been this sensation of straddling a fence. Squishing your nuts on a cold, rickety metal bar isn’t pleasant for anyone. But finally hoping off? Fucking glorious. Doesn’t even matter which yard I end up in. As long as I don’t keep this purgatorial view, I’m golden.