See You Later...

It's not a goodbye. It's a see you later.  Goodbye's have always been challenging for me. It's not something I particularly like and it makes it final. So here are a few moments that I will miss and some that I won't...

What I won't miss:
- The key fob system thing. The original one, everyone just got in, even if they did not live in the building. Then they replaced it to make it more challenging. Suddenly it took five tries to open the door and you dare not breathe incorrectly or it won't open. 
- Sunburn. I only got burnt twice this summer, which is a record low for me, but I got majorly burnt on the last day (Sorry Natalie. Sunscreen was already packed in the abyss I call a suitcase.).
- Sleeping on a cot. I am so excited for an actual bed!

What I will miss:
- All my loves in the house.
- Coming home to screaming and knowing that John was definitely home.

- Stephen running to give everyone a hug.

- Family dinner at 5:30 sharp(ish).
- Lipgloss playing at full blast every chance we got. 
- One on one's.
- Trinity and Hope's alarm working together, so every morning we would hear "It's 7 am. Time to wake up."
- Heading off to work with Tessa (for that one week we worked together in the Henna Shop in Ocean City).

- Crying (and at times dancing) in the rose garden. Also known as our go to crying area. 
- Worship, Bible Study, Lifegroups, Triad, and all our other "mandatory" events that we would have gone to willingly no matter what... probably. 
- Going to the beach pretty much every day (and singing "Let's go to the beach, each. Let's go get away. They say, what they gonna say.").
- Nothing ever running on schedule and having to learn to avoid clocks, phones, watches, or whatever else I could tell time with after 5:30 pm. 
- AbbyGrace's ever-growing warmth and ability to eat my portion of salad on top of hers. 

- Everyone loving me and being willing to speak some really hard truth into me. 
- The passion for Christ I see in all of my housemates and forever friends. 
- Trinity saying family (if you came and visited or stayed in the house, you know what I'm talking about).

There will be more yet to come. I am sure of it. It's just too much to list right now and one goal I set for myself once I got home was going to bed at a reasonable time and learning to stick with a set sleep schedule. I guess that gets to start tonight. 

Favorite Moment:
It was our last house dinner, not in the house, but as a banquet. We got all dolled up and got ready to head to Ove's for dinner. The guys even ironed (and got help as needed) ironing their dress shirts and pants. Meanwhile the ladies had their own fashion show going on. You could hear us cheering throughout the house as everyone tried on a different dress (I tested this by going to iron Katie's dress). I loved getting ready with all our lovely ladies. We were super supportive and slayed every last moment. 

Strange House Concern:
This is goodbye. Now, it isn't actually a goodbye. It's a see you later. We still have this community. It doesn't go away as we went back home today actually. We get to continue to build our community from a little further away. We have an extra support system. A simple phone call, text (that we take forever to respond to), letter, email, facetime, or whatever method we use away. We are all a bit spread out, but that's okay. It means we just have to do a little more traveling and savor every moment together. 

Featured Places of the Week:
Monkey Bread- Now, I did not pay to eat here, but I found a way to work the system. So, late at night when Monkey Bread goes to close, they give all the leftovers to Henna Shop employees, so I just went late at night when to the Henna Shop (where I work) when I knew Monkey Bread was closing. It was actually pretty good. I think I would have enjoyed it more first thing in the morning when they are just making it, but it was free food. 

Stainton's- This is a store filled with mini stores that supports local artists and small businesses. You pay for everything all at once at the front counter. They have everything ranging from jewelry to handcrafted wood furniture to locally grown honey and pretty much any reasonable small business item (that's for Kyle because I know that if I said anything you would think of then he will ask if they sell something ridiculous like yachts and I will tell him now. He will then proceed to tell me then they don't sell everything, so there, I covered my bases.).

Favorite Quotes of the Week:
-"2 packs of Ramen instead of one."- Tessa(In response to the teacher saying that we should aim to push our food budget once a week and treat ourselves.)
-"I'd rather watch the Bachelorette, but that's in the bible too... Esther." -Jamie (our guest speaker for the week)

What happened when I got back home:
Mind you, I have yet to unpack. I haven't had much time to start. I got Saturday night dinner with my family (as we usually do). As we were eating dinner, I had to keep my one dog, Chai, away from Comet (my stuffed reindeer). My dad kindly moved Comet higher up so that Chai would not get it. It was at a higher height than our kitchen table. Now, one of my other dogs, Java, got to it. He is currently a 5 month old teething puppy and losing teeth. He managed to snatch Comet from the bookshelf and lost a baby tooth in the process, turning Comet into a bloody mess (as you can see below). Don't mind my mother laughing hysterically in the background, as my entire family took amusement in this moment. Apparently, Java was not happy that I was gone for two months and I had to miss out on some of his developing months.