Hahaha. This really is like a bad movie...

Loud Noises!

Loud noises have always been an issue with me. Most people are probably annoyed at the sound of a loud plane passing over their head or a screaming child in the grocery store, begging for a treat. However, with me, it's always been more than just an annoyance. Loud sounds, especially if they are persistent, are enough to send me into panic mode. When my ears are subjected to continual clamor, no matter what it is, I automatically have the reaction someone might have if their teacher was writing on the chalkboard and the chalk slipped, grating their nails against the board. I shudder just thinking about loud noises.

Last week, when the movers came to our apartment to pack up the furniture that we were not physically capable of carrying ourselves, they seemed nice enough. They introduced themselves as Dwight and Tyrone, and they quickly got to work on placing moving pads on all of the furniture. I sat with my recently purchased Post Secret book, considering each secret. Suddenly, my ears were attacked by a loud, obnoxious sound that made the muscle in my ear twitch. My hands immediately flew up to my ears, an automatic reaction I've had since I could control my limbs enough to do so. The movers were wrapping the furniture in a sort of plastic wrap, with the pads in between. I'm assuming this was to keep it from getting scratched or dented. After about 7 seconds of the noise, I shot a dirty look at them and retreated to the back bathroom, door closed, to read my book. About 20 minutes later, my mom came to find me and begged me to come help her with the kitchen. I couldn't say no, since I'd spent the last half hour hiding away in the bathroom. I ventured out, holding my ears against the horrible cacophony. I only made it about 3 minutes in the kitchen, before I was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, rocking back and forth, thinking to myself, "What is wrong with me?"

When I was younger, my heart would race and I would break out into a sweat every time that I even walked by one of those red boxes on the wall of my elementary school (the fire alarms). Kids would touch them, and my stomach would clench and I would have the biggest urge to run out of the building. I also used to hate touching balloons, out of fear that it would pop. Even today, if my windows are down and there's a motorcycle near me, I have the same reaction as the fire alarms. I cringe my face and quickly drive as far away as I can.

Today, Em decided that some yard work needed to be done. I hate lawn work, mostly because of I hate the sound of the lawnmower. She asked if I would come pick up some dog poop and maybe start some weeding. Both of which are hard to accomplish with your index fingers shoved into your ears. Every time the mower gets within about 10 feet of me, I break into a sweat and my heart starts to beat rapidly. So today, I waited until Em was finished mowing before completing my tasks. Then, I went straight to Google to find out if other people share my embarrassing problem.


Apparently, they do.

It's called Ligyrophobia, and it's an anxiety disorder/phobia.

I seriously thought I was the only person who cringed at the sound of every loud noise. When I try to explain this, most people just look at me and I'm sure they're thinking, "She's exagerrating!" or "She's weird!" ... but to me, there is nothing worse than a loud, unrelenting noise. And it's good to know that there are other people like me, and I'm not really all that crazy...

Onward, NC!

Today I gave a unit of blood for my mom's surgery. My mom took some great pictures of the process (don't worry..nothing too gruesome!) I'll post those eventually. Once they stuck me with the HUGE ASS NEEDLE, it took about 5 minutes for the girl to "fish around" in my arm, trying to find my vein, which she described as "your vein is so small, it's like a thread!" Once she finally hit the vein, I had to hit 300 CCs in 25 minutes. (Or else the blood would clot in the bag before they could spin it down) Well, on the 20th minute, I hit 300, and a "good bag" of blood is at 400 CCs (meaning, they don't have to add in platelets) and at the 24th minute I hit 409 CCs! Wahoo! So, my mom will have a perfectly healthy and good bag of blood to replenish her stash when she loses more than 1/3 of her own during her surgery...

I'm leaving tomorrow for Greensboro... I have to be at the airport at 8:30am. I'll try to post some from NC.. I am so excited to see my team and my puppy and my friends and my family and my OWN HOUSE!

If you haven't yet, please read the post below.

Love to all-

B+

Today, after the movers are finished with the big stuff, my mom and I are heading into Philly to go to Jefferson so that I can donate a unit of B+ blood for her surgery. It's such an awesome thought that during my mom's surgery, they will put MY blood into her body... it makes me feel like I am doing something to help her. This photo is of Andrew McDonough and his sister, Ali.

For those of you who haven't heard the Andrew McDonough story, here is a little clip from his website:

Andrew was 14, a bright, talented kid, star soccer player, an 'A' student with a sense of humor and kindness for all. Never met a nicer kid. One day he was starring in a soccer tournament, two days later he was in intensive care with leukemia and sepsis in cardiac arrest.

Andrew was a student at Salesianum High School in Wilmington. From January to July of 2007, Andrew fought for 167 days at A. I. duPont Children's Hospital, before his body shut down, and he passed very bravely. He is a hero in our community, and his father, Joe, has started a foundation in his son's name called The Andrew McDonough B+Foundation. Andrew's blood type was B+, and it became sort of a mantra among them. "It's not a blood type or a grade, it's an attitude!" Since my mom is B+, and so am I, we've adopted their (B) positive outlook, and of course, we support the foundation. Last week, I bought tshirts so that we can wear them... we see the tshirts and bumper stickers all over Wilmington (the high school community around here is very tight-knit, especially when sports are involved). They're great conversation starters... everyone knows about the amazing soccer kid with the curly hair!

Check out Andrew's caringbridge site - www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough
And his foundation's website- www.bepositive.org

Always remember that your struggles are sometimes small compared to others.

9/23

I miss my big girl so much!!  I think about Sydney every single day, and can't wait to see her on Thursday and take her to the bark park, play in the yard, and snuggle with her in bed (shh!  don't tell Em!!)

I've actually gotten a good amount of packing done... but I ran out of boxes! My mom should bring home plenty more from work today.

I'm eating a toaster strudel... Kels and I had used to have these for breakfast all the time in elementary and middle school.  My dad used to buy them because they were an easy meal while we were rushing around getting ready for school.  After my parents split, though, my mom didn't really buy them as much, so I kind of forgot about them.  And now I'm eating one and it's delicious, and way too sugary to actually be a healthy breakfast!

Sorry I don't have anything really interesting to update about.  Maybe I'll go over to the new house in a little bit and take some photos... I know Em is itching to see what the new place looks like.  :-)

9/22

Erin, Kristina, Kelsey, Kristen, and Sarah with Frank Warren from PostSecret.

Today I'm having a hard time getting motivated. I woke up a few hours ago and couldn't even find the energy to go get a shower. So, I still need a shower and I still need to pack our entire pantry.

The moving company is coming on Wednesday to move all of the big stuff. They were supposed to come last Friday, but with my mom's Kidney Stone situation, we had to reschedule them. So, Wednesday will be our first night sleeping in the new house, and then Thursday I leave for Greensboro. I found a super cheap flight on United Air, but there's a layover in DC. It's really not too bad though, because I am flying straight into GSO, whereas when I usually fly down, I fly Southwest (because it's SO CHEAP!) and they only fly to Raleigh, so someone has to drive an hour and a half to pick me up.

Oh, new music - Denison Witmer. He's from Philly (well, Lancaster originally). My favorite two songs: Little Flowers, and Beautiful Girls and Boys. Check him out!!!

Alright, I think there's a Red Bull in the fridge... I think I'll go drink that and force myself to get in the shower!!

Proud

I'm super proud of Em, who created this video for one of her design classes. They had to take a word and animate it (I think that was the assignment.) I could never make something like this! (And Em would never post it on her own blog... as we all know she's not the best at making updates .. hee hee)

Check it out!

DE Obama Headquarters

Today I went with Mrs. James to the Delaware Obama Headquarters to do some volunteering! It was awesome - we were there for about 3 hours. There are a ton of jobs you can do, and Mrs. James did some canvassing by phone, while I worked on some "data entry". Basically, all I did was take the phone lists of people who have been called, and I enter the information into a spreadsheet. Each person is given an ID number, and when the canvassers call, they circle different things, and certain numbers mean certain things. (1="definite Obama supporter", 2="Leaning towards Obama", 3=Undecided, 4=Leaning towards McCain, etc).

My job was easy, and even though it seemed small, it was great to be a part of the movement!! The DE Obama HQ is actually focusing much more on Pennsyvlania voters right now (mostly because Obama/Biden have DE in the bag), and PA is such an important and huge state for us to win!

I suggest any fervent Obama supporters who have an extra hour or two to find out where their local Obama HQ is, and go down to do whatever you can to help! If you are uncomfortable calling people on the phone (like me) then there are a ton of other was you can help!

I took the above photo back in March of 2006, when I went to my first Barack Obama speech. This was WAYYY before he was a presidential nominee, he was just a senator. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time (randomly visiting University of Vermont!) and he was speaking, so I went. (Actually, I didn't have a ticket, so I stood on a stolen cafeteria chair and watched from an open window!) Afterwards, I snuck inside with some high schoolers who had skipped school to go to the speech, and we hunted him down and introduced ourselves!) After I left that speech, I said to myself, THAT is the man who should be President of the United States! About a year later, he announced that he would be running!!

Mom's Website

My mom and I created a caringbridge website for her, so that we can keep everyone updated more easily. She would LOOOOVE if you guys would go over to her site and sign the guestbook, because she feels like no one will actually visit the site! Even if you've never met her, she'd love to hear from you. So many people have been thinking about her, and our family, and it would be great for her to see just how many people have been doing so!

Here is the linked address: www.caringbridge.org/visit/judysmith2

I love you guys!!

Post Secret

Last night, I went to the PostSecret event at West Chester University.  Kelsey got me a ticket a few weeks ago, when she found out that Frank Warren was coming to talk.  It was an amazing event!!  We had so much fun- Kelsey's roommates, who I looove, came as well.  I loved hearing Frank talk about the website and everyone had some pretty good questions.  Frank shared his own secret, which I thought was horribly sad and humiliating.  I love that he sent it to himself.  I also really liked how "normal" he seems.  He's just a normal, everyday 40 (or so) year old who came up with a great idea and acted on it.  

I started reading Post Secret 3 and a half years ago, and the website was only a few months old when I started.  My cousin Meghan made me go to it, and I, of course, fell in love.  At the beginning of my freshman year, I sent in a secret, my very first one, and it was posted!  I haven't sent in a secret since then, because it was so special to me that mine was posted, that I don't want to be sad if my next one isn't.  I just thoroughly enjoy checking the website every Sunday morning.  It's become a part of my routine, and often, Em and I wake up on a Sunday morning (sometimes hung over, especially during rugby season) and we check it together, talking about the secrets that strike us as depressing or hilarious or similar to one of our own experiences.  This is my secret that was posted:

There is a story that goes along with it, of course.  However, I feel like I shouldn't explain it, JUST IN CASE the wrong person from UNCG (aka the police there) reads it, and I don't want to incriminate myself!!

Where the Hell is Matt?

My mom showed me this video awhile ago, and I didn't pay very close attention when she was showing it to me. Tonight, I found it again and fell in love with it. Please watch, it's breathtaking. Afterwards, visit www.wherethehellismatt.com


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Post # 244

It's strange to be living in Wilmington when none of my friends are. The last time I lived here was the summer before we all went to college. It was a hectic summer, starting out with prom, our high school graduation, and senior week. Everyone spent the summer preparing for college...half of us would stay in the state, and half of us would be spreading out all over the country. (MD, VA, NC, PA, MA, CO, WI..) But, that summer we spent as much time together as possible, knowing that it would be rare occasions that we would all be in the same place, together again. I miss my friends and the crazy stuff we used to get ourselves into. I miss the scavenger hunts, going to Brandywine Creek State Park, going to playgrounds late at night to have fun but ending up in serious conversations. I miss us before we were college kids, before every time we got together there had to be drinking involved. I miss us before we grew up and everyone did their hair and wore makeup. I miss when we used to really KNOW each other, before our lives in the outside world started and Wilmington and Brandywine just became a distant memory. I miss eating ice cream on Maria's kitchen floor, lunches in the cafeteria where we would sit in the same spot every single day, crazy birthday celebrations, dinners at La Tolteca and Stanleys, crazy adventures to Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Dewey Beach, Mrs. Sypher's house...

I miss it all.

Pretty funny stuff!!

9/13

Today is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day.

According to the ACS, more than 12,400 children will be diagnosed with cancer this year. While this may not seem like that many in the grand scheme of things, think about this: Cancer is the SECOND leading cause of death in children, exceeded only by accidents. Every day, 46 children, or two classrooms full of children, will be diagnosed with cancer.

Although some cancers are very treatable and have great prognoses, other cancers, like Neuroblastoma, do not. Since Liam was diagnosed, in April of 2004, I have kept up on many, many children battling cancer. And slowly but surely, the list has dwindled down as those children became angels. Sadly, so many of these children passed away in just the last 6 months.

So, today, honor those who have died. Liam Kane, Katie Krize, Christi Thomas, Lucas Tran, Arden Quinn Bucher, Marissa Monroe, Max Mikulak, Penelope London, James Runde, Emily Adamson, Boey Byers, Madelyn Beamon, Laura Stiles, Carter Finger, Lillie Boyte, Austin Melgar, Jake Raborn, Emma Grace Hampton, Stanton Haynes, Spencer Dolling, Kendall Jackson, Kayla Weber, Harrison Nichols ... (and those are just off the top of my head).

And support those children who are still in the fight!!

Khalid Amos, who actually lives in Greensboro NC, just received his STEM CELL TRANSPLANT yesterday!! He is 3 years old, and is at Duke waiting for those cells to engraft. Please stop over and tell him hello! They welcome any visitors at his website. His mother, Danielle, and I have been e-mailing back and forth, and hopefully when I go down to Greensboro in a few weeks, I'll be able to stop over and see them.

WEAR GOLD TODAY!!

Photo above is of Kayla Weber, who lost her battle with Neuroblastoma on December 2, 2007 at the age of 15 months.

This video was made by the CNCF (Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation).

Nine Twelve Oh Eight

I took this photo in Dewey Beach, it's the Rehoboth Bay from behind the Bay Resort.

I could have gotten the lighting a lot better.. I wish I understood more about my camera's settings. Hopefully, when I get back down to Greensboro, I can sign up for a community photography course.

I'm so excited it's Friday. And the only reason is because my mom doesn't work on the weekend, which means that I won't be at the apartment all by myself! Pretty pathetic, but we actually have a lot to do this weekend! We have to pack everything up for the big move!!

Seven Years

Somewhere, in my box of photograph albums and stacks of pictures, there is a photo taken of me, dated May 11, 2001. I'm wearing jean shorts and an Ocean Pacific white shirt with a palm tree on the front. I am 14 years old, and my back is to the New York City skyline. The World Trade Center towers are prominent, and my mom, the photographer, made sure not to cut off the tops of them in the picture. Who would have guessed that exactly 4 months later, those towers would be reduced to rubble, and the New York City skyline would never be the same again.

Never forget...

Child Life Specialists

This morning when I woke up, my mom handed me the newspaper. There was a huge article in the Life section of the News Journal about Child Life Specialists!! The article focused on the staff at A.I. duPont Children's Hospital, which is located in Wilmington, and which is the hospital that Kelsey and I grew up going to if we needed a specialist, or if we had to run to the ER for a sports injury. (Think knee blow-out). A.I is also where Liam primarily treated, until he relapsed and the Kanes decided to take him to CHOP.

Here is the article: Helping Kids Cope With Serious Medical Problems

I know the woman who they interviewed - who is the head of the Child Life Department. She went to my church and she also had kids at my high school.

The article is really interesting...and if you'd like a better explanation of what I'm getting a degree for, then read it!

And we find a reason why, one step at a time.

Today I went to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled, and it was pretty busy, so instead of waiting around the store, I just told them I'd be back in an hour.  When I got out to my car, I didn't want to go back home and climb the three flights of stairs back up to the apartment.  (I'm not ashamed of my laziness.)  So, I turned on the car and drove to the first place that came to my mind - Liam's garden.  It's at our church, where his funeral was held and where his ashes are buried.  I haven't been there in probably a year.  I drove and parked, and walked into the garden, which is peaceful and enclosed by lots of large bushes and plants.  It's very pretty in that garden.  I sat down on a bench, and didn't notice the plaque on it.  I just happened to glance down, and I noticed that there was a dinosaur on the plaque.  I immediately jumped up and read it.  It read "In memory of Liam James Kane.  And all of the angels who bless this garden.  Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Alli."  There was even a dinosaur on it!  I was so excited.. I snapped this picture with my cell phone, which doesn't even do it justice.. but it made me so happy.

No other path, No other way...

No Day But Today.

So last week a friend of mine asked if I'd ever seen RENT before.  I hadn't ever seen it, but it's been one of my lifetime goals for at least six years.  Earlier in the year, when they announced that it was leaving Broadway, I did everything in my power to try to convince Em that we should drive to NY and see it, but we were never able to fit it into our schedule, plus the ticket prices skyrocketed.  Well, back in February my friend Courtney purchased two tickets to the 2nd to last day of the show, and she remembered that I had mentioned a few months ago that I'd never seen it.  So she invited me to go with her!!  The show was last night, and I didn't mention it on here until now because I didn't want to jinx anything!

IT WAS AMAZING!!  I am such a dork, and my eyes watered the whole time, because I mean, the story can be sad at times, but I was just so happy to be there, and I just couldn't believe that I was actually at the Nederlander Theatre seeing RENT!  It was such a fantastic show, and I was excited because the woman who played Joanne in the movie (Tracie Thoms) is playing her on Broadway now, and she was great!  I was able to (secretly!) record a video of Seasons of Love...there's no visual because I was trying to be extremely discreet, and I think the video is a shot of the ceiling in the dark (he he).  

This morning I left Rutgers (where Courtney goes to school, and where we took the train into the city from) and met up with Meg for lunch.  It was so great to spend a few hours with her, as I miss her so much!  After that, I stopped by the Galbraith House to say hello to Em's parents.  We sat outside on the deck and talked for about an hour and a half...it's always good to catch up with them.  Then I drove home.

I had a great weekend!  Thank you so much Courtney!  I always knew I would love RENT!

Mom at Work

Today I had a doctor's appointment at the hospital where my mom works, so I went into my appointment and afterwards I went down to the lab to visit.  I brought my camera with me, thinking I might be able to shoot my mom in her natural habitat ;-)

Here are some shots.  I honestly don't have the energy to go back and edit them right now, so these are just the images straight off of my camera.

My mom works in the Hematology lab, which literally translates to "the science of blood".  My mom and her co-workers are the ones who look at blood under microscopes and run it through machines to find out if we're sick or how our counts are.

The day consisted of a lot of my mom staring into microscopes and looking for white blood cells and red blood cells.  She showed me a lot of abnormal blood cells, which sometimes meant that person had an infection or virus.  

I like how all of the equipment in the lab is black and stainless steel.  

These tubes are called "Lavenders" and hold blood from patients in the ER or who are inpatient.  Once they're tested, they are put into this rack, to be put into a refrigerator and kept for 24 hours, just in case they are needed again.  Then they're discarded here:

The ones with a "STAT" sticker means that they need to be checked right away.  (Obviously).  Today, I helped my mom run a stat blood for a woman who was in labor upstairs, who was ready for her epidural!  I'd say that's pretty STAT!

I picked a good day to come in - because everyone in the lab had to get Fire Extinguisher Training!  My mom went first, and you can tell by her face how surprisingly loud the extinguisher is!  I even got to try - it was a little scary, but fun!

My mom gets A LOT of phone calls.  She is the supervisor of the lab, and when anyone has a question, she is the woman they get to talk to.  (click on the picture to make it bigger and see the look on my mom's face!)

They test a lot of different fluids in the lab.  Mostly, they test urine, semen, and blood.  However, every once in awhile they get Spinal Fluid as well!

These are the little things they use to put a drop of blood onto the slide.

Before we left today, my mom had lots of paperwork to fill out.  This isn't the greatest quality photo, but it shows what is a big part of her day - all of the paperwork at the end!

What a fun day!  I ended up staying with her until 5pm, and my mom let me wear a lab coat and gloves.  After I put my camera away, she let me help her run urinalyses (I successfully ran tests all by myself to find out that someone had too much bilirubin in their urine... which means that they're liver is not functioning as well as it should.)  I also delivered a lot of specimens to the blood bank, and to the Chemistry lab.  Oh, and I delivered a NASTY container of someone's diarrhea...yuck!  

All in all, a great day.

Max and Liam.

Liam has been on my mind a lot lately.  Perhaps it's due to the passing of beautiful Max Mikulak, who passed away Sunday night at age 7.  I've been reading the Mikulak's blog for quite some time now, as Max's father was one of the founders of the Magic Water Foundation.  Max's health has been deteriorating, however, I was stunned on Monday morning to read on his blog that he had passed.  What a sweet boy.  Oh, how I hate this cancer with every fiber in my body...

While I was moving all of my files over to my new computer from the old one, I found a lot of old documents that I hadn't looked at in years.  I found a letter to Liam that I wrote shortly after he died in 2005.  Hard to believe it will be 3 years since his passing this November.  Here is an excerpt from my letter: 

"At your viewing, your Daddy said to me, 'I bet Liam is staying up all night, watching all the scary movies we never let him watch, and eating all the popcorn he wants.'  I bet Daddy is right… You will always be with me, Liam.  I am sad because I will not ever see your smiling face again, or hold your hand, or sing you songs or play with you.  Or have piggy back ride races, or watch you hug your “baby sister Alli” goodnight.  But when I see the sun set, or see a baby smile, or hug your dinosaurs, I know that you are right there with me.  You’re sitting next to me on this bed right now, you’re flying around the room, you’re outside the window peeking in…you are all around me."

I'm a creeper, I admit it.

Okay, I know this sounds totally creepy, but this has been bothering me for months now.

Most of you probably aren't aware (unless you have one yourselves, or have heard me talk about it) of the capabilities of my stat counter on my blog.  This stat counter can do magical and amazing things!  Not only does it count how many hits my blog gets, it also tells me who is hitting it.  Well, it doesn't give me names, but it gives me the city/state of the person visiting my blog.  It also tells me if you found my blog through a search engine.  So, if you Goo.gle "One Safe Place", it tells me exactly what you typed into google to find my blog.

So, for example, if I see that I got a hit from someone in Cork, Ireland, then I know that it's Erin.  If I get a hit from someone in Philadelphia, PA then I know it's probably Lindsey.  If I get a hit from someone in Chestertown, MD then I know it's probably my cousin Meghan.

About a year ago, I started getting hits from someone in Virginia who was getting the link to my blog by searching Goo.gle for "Cop.per One Safe Place".  Obviously, this leads me to believe that it is someone from Camp Hoo.ver.  When I saw that, I was worried that anyone could search for Camp Hoo.ver and find my blog, so I went back and deleted every single "Cop.per" and "Camp Hoo.ver" out of all of my entries, so that no one could accidentally come across my blog (a camper, a parent, someone from council, etc.)  Now, I get hits from people in the same area searching "Kristen One Safe Place".

Please... I am dying to know who you are!!  I won't be mad if you're a camper!  I just want to know who you are, so that I know that I don't have some parent reading my blog or something.  Come out of the woodwork... Leave me a comment!  Or, if you don't feel comfortable leaving me a comment, my e-mail address is Knsmith5@uncg.edu .  I already have an idea of probably who it might be...so don't be embarrassed!!  

On that same note... I get about 100 hits on my blog every day from people who are regular readers.  I know that it's probably not the same people hitting "refresh" 20 times (haha).  Who are all of these people all across North Carolina who are reading?  I would love to know!!  I always wonder...is it people on my rugby team?  Is it people from my classes?  Let me know, I would LOVE to know if you're reading!!  I totally understand how some people wouldn't comment, maybe because they found my blog randomly, or because I don't know that they read it, but honestly - I write on this blog knowing that it is completely open to the public, so I would never be mad or upset to know that ANYONE is reading it!

9/2

I've been feeling very drained lately.  Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as well.  I'm trying so hard right now, harder than I've ever tried before, to take care of myself in all of those aspects, and I truly believe that I am doing the best job that I can right now.  My mind is just constantly spinning...my thoughts are way ahead of my words most of the time.  I can't concentrate on anything at all, and I get very anxious over things that aren't worth getting that anxious over.  

This isn't a complaint, just a record of how I've been feeling lately.  

My mom's surgery is set for October 10th.  We liked the sound of that - 10/10.  We are moving out of the apartment on September 20th.  I'm already stressed thinking about how much work it's going to be packing things up and figuring it all out.  I'm really happy that my mom found a place that she wants to live that suits her so well.  I'm just kind of freaking out on the inside about so many different things.  

All I want is some stability and some normalcy.  Right now, nothing feels stable and nothing feels normal.

Ashland, VA

So this weekend was wonderful and relaxing, just as I expected.  After being stuck in some moderate traffic on the way (it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be), I finally made it and it was so great to see Em.  We did some random things this weekend... went to Walmart, played Mini Golf (I kicked her butt!!), and just did a lot of driving and talking.  We also visited Kelly at Randolph Macon!  It was so good to see her and she showed us a little bit of her campus, and we did some shopping with her.  I love randomly getting to see friends!!  

This weekend only made Em and I stronger.  I am extremely happy that we decided to meet up, as we were able to talk a lot more about a lot of things we didn't get to talk about while I was in Greensboro, and we were able to further resolve some of the issues we've been having.  We also just had a lot of FUN!  We went out to eat at Chile's, watched a lot of TV, and Em worked on a little of her homework (doing drawings of me!).  

When I got back to my mom's apartment today, I sat down on the couch, closed my eyes, and sighed.  I miss Em already, but I am so happy that things are going so well that it kind of trumps the feelings of sadness from missing her and wishing I was with her.  

:-)