Pi day was my first anniversary.  It's not the worst day to share with the anniversary of a failed relationship, though.  The fact that everyone celebrates 3.14159265 with actual pies makes it one of the very best holidays.  Even if you're sad, you're quelling your feelings in warm, ooey gooey pie!

On this the anniversary of the very beginning of our relationship, I spent the day in Athens.  I am a bad, bad girl.  I went for a walk in the park attached to Bear Hollow, the site of our first date, and felt nothing emotionally towards him. The park was empty except for Tess and myself and later a lone jogger. It was beautiful, it was cold, it was the same. This was my third trip to Athens this month.  I love it there.  I go to all of my favorite places and it's not until I drive past things I associate with him that I remember they used to be our favorite things, our favorite places.  Which is why I went to Bear Hollow, a place that held meaning for us, yes, but a place that also reminds me of trick or treating and volunteering and birthdays of close friends.

I love it there.  There's so much of me spread across the town that I don't associate it with him or us or what could have been.  Instead I see myself - dreams of a young girl, past, present, future.  The houses on Dearing Street that make me want to raise daughters in their secret gardens. The rolling hills that entice me to walk faster and tone my legs. The bars where I can drink cheaply, the two loops that will get me there quickly, the old with the new.  The piano intro of The Twist.

I'm me, I'm there, I'm happy, I'm bad. There has to be bad karma with starting something over an old thing, so I don't.  I don't overlap stories.  I don't say anything. I look across the table at what I want and I have to tell myself to look away.

Labels: Athens, Bear Hollow, karma, pi day, Tess