Day 58 | a real zero

Woke up at 5 out of habit. Reached for my phone and told Vova where I was. I didn’t expect them to leave until 9 or 10, so I went back to sleep. Woke up again to a message that they were on their way at 7. My hands shook as I checked his location. I only had an hour left with Alex.

Pure panic - that’s the best way to describe this feeling. I was too elated or too tired to think about it last night. But here we were, an hour away from another goodbye. I cried, I pulled myself together.

Michael is there! Ate Costco cheese with wild abandon. Garrett is up! Scrambled eggs for Garrett. Fried eggs on English muffins for the rest of us. Said hi to Randy! It was so nice to say hi and get hugs from all these people I know and love.

Vova, mom, and Jackie pulled up at 9:30. Time for another goodbye. No tears this time.

We drove back to South Lake Tahoe. Stopped for second breakfast in Placerville. I had 2 breakfast sandwiches, half of Jackie’s quarter pounder with cheese, half of her fries, and coffee.

The cabin they rented is beautiful. Once I was in, I didn’t leave even for a second. Laundry. Computer time. Mom miraculously mended my wind pants.

Diana, Boris, and Sam came around 3. Diana is pregnant! So exciting! Sam was fascinated with my sleeping pad.

Diana, mom, and Boris made a really good dinner for all of us. Salad, beef stroganoff over pasta, liver pate, really good butter, pretzels, bread, cauliflower. So so so good. I had second and third helpings.

Alex measured out brownie ingredients at home per my request, and passed them to my mom to bring here. Making them was as easy as a box mix. Brownies and ice cream was all I wanted from this zero. Mission accomplished. Thank you, Alex!

P.S. Today I had a chance to look up many things I was wondering about during my hike. Like, do you know what the opposite of nocturnal is? This question vexed me for days. It’s diurnal.