Whirlwind Summer

All sense of normalcy left my life after I worked my last day at my old job May 13th.

A couple days later I packed up my car and drove to Hopewell, VA to store some belongings at my grandparents and also to be closer to the Richmond airport for my trip to Venezuela. May 19th I flew out sans my granddad, as he found out the previous day he could not travel, and arrived in Barcelona, Venezuela around 7 p.m. the same day. Over the next two weeks I helped with housework such as cleaning, cooking and laundering, drove my sister to school, visited with old friends, helped my parents pack up their lives and home, attended my sister's high school graduation and a church wedding in the same night, and had a nice long, eye-opening chat with a missionary couple.

June 2nd, I traveled from Barcelona to Miami with my mom, dad and sister as we all left Venezuela for good. (My parents have finished their 20-year stint as church planters/missionaries in Venezuela and are back in the U.S. for a yearlong furlough of sorts). After arriving in Miami, we rented a car and drove up to Perry, FL to stay with my other grandparents. We spent a week there trying to relax and process our departure from Venezuela and gear up for the remainder of the summer. The day we left we traveled by car to Columbia, SC. After one night we went to Myrtle Beach. The next day we drove to Hopewell, VA. The next day, June 11th, I left my family behind and drove up to Mercersburg, PA for a friend's bachelorette party. Two days later I was a bridesmaid in the wedding for the same friend. I left the same day as the wedding and tried to drive to Blacksburg but only made it as far as Staunton, where I stayed overnight with relatives. After arriving in Blacksburg after being gone for nearly a month, I alternated my time between Blacksburg and Hopewell spending time with family but also trying to experience a bit of Blacksburg summer. In Blacksburg I tried to make it to some Gravitate events (young adults group from my church), pioneer girls summer activities and most importantly work on packing up all my things and preparing to vacate my apartment.

July 13th I finally moved out of my apartment. I spent most of the following week at the Young's home, where they very graciously let me stay in their basement and come and go as I needed. It was a huge blessing to feel so much at home and have my own space in the middle of all the other going ons. Saturday my brother got married, and oh my, what a special day!!! I spent Friday and Saturday night at a hotel with my folks and extended relatives before heading back to Hopewell, VA (my grandparents' place). Monday my parents, sister and I headed up to Burke, VA to get acquainted with my parents' new apartment and then the following day, July 21st, my sister and I took off for New York. We spent a week at my grandparents cottage getting it ready for them to move in but we also goofed off and spent some great time together reminding each other daily that we were "on vacation"! This past Tuesday, July 28th, we drove over to Massachusetts to visit cousins near Springfield. The next day we drove all the way back down to Hopewell which ended up taking over 13 hours. Arriving completely exhausted at 2:30 am we crashed in our clothes and left everything in the car.

It is now 5:36 am Friday morning and I'm awake, still unable to get my body back on a proper sleeping schedule. Maybe I should stay up all day, which they say is the way to cure jet lag.

For a quick recap, because everything I wrote above is way too long and detailed, I have traveled between all the following places in the past 2 months: Blacksburg, Hopewell, Richmond, Atlanta, Miami, Barcelona (Venezuela), Miami, Perry Fl, Columbia SC, Myrtle Beach, Hopewell, Mercersburg PA, Staunton, Blacksburg, Hopewell, Blacksburg, Hopewell, Blacksburg, Hopewell, Burke, Broadalbin NY, Springfield MA then Hopewell (crossing through these states at some point - Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, & Maryland).

I think it's a bit much. Perhaps. I'm starting to feel like a rockstar! (not really).

So is that all? Am I done? Not quite. Tomorrow I'm going back up to Burke because my parents will be back from their trip to Wheaton, IL. But I'll be staying there for at least a whole month while I take my TEFL course with LADO International.

Ben getting married

My brother is tying the knot in three days! I can hardly believe it. I've known it was coming for a long time now but still I can hardly wrap my mind around it. I don't think it's supposed to be that big of a deal, and I mean, people get married all the time, right? Well for some reason I've gotten sort of emotional thinking about it, with a pretty big dose of nostalgia in there, too. In a good way though, I suppose. I just remember playing as kids and all the fun we had. We weren't always each other's most favorite person, but we definitely had our moments. Ben has been such a wonderful brother through the years and has taken good care of me. Through childhood, adolescence, boarding school and college, Ben has been there for me. He's one of my very best friends. Sheesh I sound like I'm writing a eulogy. I keep telling myself "he's still going to be around!" Well yes and no, because I'm leaving Blacksburg for good now and he's entering the family man stage of life so I don't exactly fit in anymore. But that's alright, really. I'm so very happy to be a part of his big day and it's been fun watching him fall in love and teasing him the whole way through! Plus, I'm getting a new sister out of the deal so it can't be all that bad. (jk Hannah in case you read this I really do love you!).

Anyways, I got a little sentimental and wound up with this:

A bit of this, a bit of that.

As I was getting ready to write here I got a random song stuck in my head - "New way to be human" by Switchfoot. Ok, that's an old song. How does that even happen? Minds are so weird sometimes.

Anyways, These past couple of days have been great as excitement has been building up in me about the next phase of life I'm headed for. As of monday I will be homeless and I'm currently unemployed and have a college debt to pay BUT I couldn't care less. There are awesome things in store for my future and I can't wait to see what they are. I don't want to let any more life pass me by. I want to live it to the full, every moment of every day.

God is so good and takes wonderful care of his children!

One more thing, my mom and I were accepted into the TESOL course at LADO International! From August 3 until August 28 I will be extremely busy taking classes 9:00 - 6:00 everyday but I am seriously looking forward to it.

For more info on the course, check out their site: LADO certificate course.