charlotte : it took me a long time to sift through my many photos from this weekend.

let me just start out by saying that since watching in time with justin timberlake this past weekend, i can no longer listen to his new album without picturing his character from the movie, running in the ghetto with less than 24 hours on the glowing green timestamp on his forearm, trying to help the others survive and get what they deserve. obviously i know the movie is fictional, but it alludes real life circumstances and all i'm saying is that if justin timberlake was looking for a way to share his wealth, i have some student loan debt i'd be happy to hand over.

moving on.

i spent a solid 44 hours in charlotte this past weekend. (where else would i have access to a movie like that, other than josh's movie library.) was it worth the 14 hours of car time it took to get there and back? of course. yes. the drive doesn't really bother me, as i seem to have somehow spontaneously turned into a road trip type of person. (i used to think anything over three hours was why airplanes were invented.) what bothers me the most is the seven hours i spend driving back to nashville, wondering how there got to be so many miles between us.

my roommate thinks it's kind of pathetic the way T and i get so emotional over saying goodbye when the days between our visits are so few, the way i used to roll my eyes when T would talk about how much she missed lee when they were still dating and had literally seen each other less than 24 hours before. but it's not so much about the saying goodbye as it is about what happens after the goodbye. the thing is, we were never supposed to have to say goodbye. we were supposed to do life together, and now our only time together is a visit, filled with stories and descriptions of memories i wasn't (or she wasn't) apart of.

that's the hardest part, and that's what i spend those seven hours thinking about as i'm driving back to nashville. but, while i'm there, i enjoy and soak in every minute. i put my hands on T's belly and listen to the sound of her laugh, when she's really laughing at something, and give josh high fives that turn into hand hugs, and lee real hugs that make him say "oh, okay" as if he's not used to the fact that i will hug him every time i see him. these things are the best, and things you can't get with a phone call or facetime.

i also documented the weekend in photos, which i know is all you really come here for. there are lots, so click the link for more so this one post with a million low quality iphone photos doesn't eat up my whole page. okay.

// josh got out of class early on friday night because it was the last one of the session, and he got student of the course. again. because he is awesome like that.

// T sends daily bump photos to kind of make up for the fact that we can't all see it in real life every day, and i got to be in this one. (also, he continues to visibly kick which continues to blow my mind.) (i love him.)

// the whole reason i went to charlotte for the weekend was so i could bring T and lee to see needtobreathe & drew holcomb and the neighbors. i was so psyched to be able to hang out with that baby girl for a few minutes, and introduce T and lee to her and ellie. drew (not pictured) came out too. mostly to tell ellie that they were starting sound check and he would text her when they needed her, and partly to say hi. (and that is your typical drew and ellie dynamic right there.)

// it's never too soon to start teaching baby g what good music sounds like.

// drew holcomb sunglasses.

// drew holcomb and the neighbors.

// during the set change, T and i hung out by the merch/concession/bathroom area because, you know, pregnant ladies gotta pee every three minutes. and drew was out there taking photos with fans and how funny would it be if we waited in line for a photo? he laughed you guys, so my work here is done.