My trip... the first day!

Hugh and I had joked that we hadn’t actually MET. I mean, we talked every day via email and on the phone every once in a while, but we hadn’t actually officially MET. So my plan was, when I saw him at the airport, I would extend my hand and introduce myself. That was my plan anyway… and then I hopped in the jeep… There was Polly looking at me like “uh, who are you and why are you in my space?” (She is, after all, a big diva) We wrestled with my super heavy suitcase and then Hugh leaned over and gave me a big hug and it was over. Introducing myself was out.
Oh well.
All at once, it hit me like a big old slap in the face. THIS is what I have been waiting for for six solid months. This was what I had looked forward to! THIS was what I had imagined in my head over and over again. It was finally a reality. I was somehow sad. Not that it was happening, not that I was there, but that there was no more anticipation. Do you know what I mean? It is hard to explain. I had to say to myself several times, “hey, you are here!!!”
I think Hugh took this as me freaking out, cause he was very quiet, very slow to make any sort of conversation at first. He pointed out usual Hollywood sights and it slowly became a reality in my head. Slowly I began to realize, “WOW! I am HERE!!! How amazing is this???”
We laughed and we joked and we talked about all of the crazy places I saw and we rolled down the road towards Hugh’s place.

He parks in a parking garage, one with a cool garage door opener for the gate. That was really fun. And he has his own parking space… totally reserved for him.
We didn’t lock the car doors, which I found odd, but whatever.
He lives on the third floor of this cool building with little balconies all peeking out into the street. It is in a fabulous part of town, and surrounded by tall buildings. Totally not what I am used to in texas!
As we walked in, I noticed how freakin’ tall Hugh was! I am short, but he is really really tall. It was cute, really, and I am sure we looked like the total opposite couple, walking into the building together.

For some reason, as soon as we walked in, Polly ran down the hall to the elevator. You know how dogs do when they are running on slick floors? They sort of can’t get their footing for a second and slide instead of run? That is exactly what Polly did. It was cute, since those aren’t really diva like actions.

Hugh’s apartment was not really anything like I expected it to look, but so Hugh at the same time. For some reason, I had created a floor plan of his apartment in my head and it SO didn’t match what was reality. That is ok.
The first thing I saw was a giant picture of a man’s butt… I know, it is art but still… ☺
He loves art, natch and he loves books. He loves hand blown glass vases and jars. Everything in his apartment has a special meaning, a place in his heart. Everything has sentimental value, from the beautiful photographs of his mom and grandmother, to his newly acquired print of a truck. It all has a story for Hugh.
I loved hearing the stories. I soaked up his stories and stared at the pictures and the books and the things in the apartment. So these are important things to Hugh… these are important to my friend. I needed to make them important to me.

I gave him some Texas playing cards (since he only has naked lady playing cards) and we vowed to play some Texas Hold’em as he put them in the “card drawer” in a little table between two wickery chairs.

That evening, Hugh and I talked, we got comfortable, we played, we danced, we ordered dinner, and Hugh talked to BT and got advice for how to deal with me for the rest of my time there. We watched TV and talked and talked and ate Chinese food and Polly just watched me and tried to figure out who this strange person was in her space.

That night, before bed, I decided to shower. I proceeded to flood the entire bathroom! I guess the shower head didn’t like it when I moved it down. It started spraying water out the side…something I didn’t notice till I was almost done with my shower.
Yikes.
Here I was in a strange place, and I had totally flooded the bathroom on my first night there! The roll of toilet paper...drenched! My pajamas were soaked! My clothes that I had just taken off were soaked! Yikes!
I am normally not the most graceful kid there is, but jeeze… the first night! What was to become of me by Thursday???
After drying off, hanging up my wet clothes, and putting on clean dry pajamas, it was time for bed.

Hugh had borrowed an air mattress from a friend of his and had set it up in the living room for me to sleep. It was great!
So as Hugh laid in his bed with Polly, I laid in my bed on the floor, we talked in the dark like a bunch of kids at a slumber party, who’s parents had made them turn the lights out, but who weren’t really willing to quite go to sleep yet.
These (come to find out) were some of my favorite times…when we would lay in the dark and talk.
Somehow it is safer to say the harder/scarier things in the dark...