Ok – been gone for a few days, time to catch you up.

I rented a car again. Bus still in the shop. I think it might be there forever. The five hour drive is warmer and more comfortable in a rented Chevy Cobalt, but a fall ride through western Pennsylvania is always uneventful.

The Thanksgiving dinner was held at Gokula’s and I was the first to arrive. I’ve known her for something like twelve years. She and her four year old son, Kunji live in an apartment complex several miles from the temple. A handful of devotees, most of whom I knew from over a decade ago, showed up. Seva and I hung out talking politics, punk rock, old times and the possibility of me moving to West Virginia. “I’m thinking about it,” I said.

Dinner was amazing, we stuffed ourselves like true Americans (though it was all vegetarian – mostly vegan, which was really sweet since I was the only vegan – people have no idea how much that really means to a vegan boy like myself). After everyone left, I hung out with Gokula and Kunji till 9 or so (no idea, really) and headed to Rati & Dwija’s house, my home away from home (if you can call where I’m living “home”).

Staying with Rati & Dwija is great. Always good conversation and always fun. They’re one of the big reasons I was seriously thinking about moving there.

The next day, Friday, Rati, Dwija and I hung out for a bit, I made chili for a vegan potluck that Gokula, Kunji and I were going to. Gokula was helping out some friends with their cart in a mall near Pittsburgh. Kunji was at a friend’s house. I met her in the mall in front of The Orange Julius. You know, like in high school. All that was missing was the parents to drop us off and a record store to spend our allowance. I couldn’t remember where I parked my car. We were taking hers, but I had the chili in mine, so we needed to find it. She drove around for a bit while I felt bad. I’m not good in parking lots.

Well, we found the car and headed to pick up Kunji. I was the self-appointed navigator. And why not? I’ve traveled enough. But when I do, I write down my own directions. I’ve never had to read someone else’s. Kunji was retrieved, no problem. However, finding our way back to the interstate to get to the potluck was a chore. She stopped for gas and I (at her prodding) asked for directions. Somehow we had to backtrack several miles. I was lost.

But onward. Except that I was having trouble reading what the directions were. She wrote “William Penn Highway.” But I saw a sign for “Old William Penn Highway” and figured that she was wrong. I then reconsidered that position. And then spoke up, ignoring my reconsideration. At this point we were on some sort of side road/off ramp. She stopped the car abruptly, gave me a much-deserved scowl and said “Are we are the right road or not?!”

My first thought was “Damn, this girl has guts – she’s stopped in the middle of the road!” And then I figured that if she had the guts to do that, I had better figure out just what the hell I was doing. A car pulled up behind us, she seemed unphased and ready to just turn around. I quickly collected myself and told her to keep going straight, that the road up ahead (*Old* William Penn) was an older version of the road we wanted, and they’d meet up. She was very rightfully skeptical of my shenanigans, but kept cool and for some reason trusted me. To my surprise (see, I really had NO idea what I was talking about), we come to the road we needed. Crisis averted.

Let me clarify, this was 100% my fault. Sure, I’m not used to reading other people’s directions, but they were correct. I tried to freestyle it, I tried to read more into it and to generally be a guy. Guys are morons. I needed to have my ego checked and stopping in the middle of a road pretty well knocked the much-needed sense into me.

Somehow or another, we got to the potluck. Mostly, we hung out with Michael and Tiffany. I knew Michael from way way back, though my memory of it is shady at best. Kunji and the other kids played random and strange games while we ate some wonderful vegan food. Michael and I talked quite a bit and he asked me if I was moving to New Vrndavana. I told him that I was.

That was the first time I had actually said it. Before then, it was “maybe” or “we’ll see.” But this time, so naturally, it just was. I didn’t even think about it. It was like I had never thought of it before. Like I had just always known. That may not have been how the decision was made, but that’s how it came to me, naturally sudden.

Am I on the right road or not?
I am.

…I think I’ll finish this later…