Sam is Home!

After being overseas all summer, Sam came home last night. I have to admit, I've been so absorbed in my own life (moving, prepping the other house for sale, desperately grasping to the remaining strands of my sanity), that it really doesn't feel like he's been gone all summer.

So, about two weeks ago, he started planning his return home. He asked me to remind my father to re-start his car insurance and told me that he was craving a Ruben sandwich. You can't get a Reuben in Tehran.

So, every subsequent phone call after that ended with "Don't forget to bring me a Ruben when you get me from the airport." There was also a 5 AM phone call in the morning to give me flight details- and remind me to bring the Ruben. And a text message, in the event that I was too asleep to remember.

I worked from home, since his flight was due in around 2 PM. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed. By 5:00 PM, it was due to land at 7:30 PM. I rolled into the airport at EXACTLY 7:30, parked, and waited in the receiving lounge with my eyes glued to the status monitor.

While I am generally a pleasant person, when I am alone in public places I am accosted by perverts and lunatics. It's as if I have a sign on my forehead or something.

(I had an ex-boyfriend tell me it was my own fault for being polite and making eye contact and smiling. It's, evidently, a welcome sign for both the perverts and the lunatics.)

I was prepared this time. As I was leaving my car, I put in my visible headphones and began a Podcast. As soon as I found a place to stand and wait, I pulled my sock out of my purse and began knitting.

Now, I've normally found that the following equation is true:

Knitting in public + alone = Approachable

But last night, it was this:

Knitting in public + alone + headphones = Interesting from a distance.

I am theorizing that this is also true, and will report once I have conclusive empirical evidence:

Knitting in public + alone + headphones + random laughter/mumbling = Crazy knitting lady.

I am calling this the "Golden Rule of Knitting in Public". I have found the system to control being approached based on how I am feeling.

In my peripheral vision, I could see people pointing at my knitting, and in the direct line of my sight, I could see people pointing at my knitting. While I waited (almost 40 minutes) for Sam to get off of the plane and get through customs, I got about three inches (ahem, on size 0's) knit on the cuff of my sock. Not bad for a night's work.

The drive back was nice, Sam and I got to just chit-chat, which I missed. The conversation moved towards politics, as it always has a tendency to with Sam, but it was nice to just be silly (and a little philosophical) with him.