First up?
Yep, the coffee table has received an "every time I look at this thing I get sad, so I better repaint it" makeover. :) As did most of my stuff. It's kind of strange living in Columbia. By myself. Playing Suzie-Homemaker has lightened the emotional load for the meanwhile, but I know that eventually it will all hit me. Furman is over, college is over (WHAT?!), and I'm on to the next adventure.
I actually really like living on my own -- so far. I loved my college roommates, so the idea of trying to replace them for a year kinda made me cringe. Besides... I know full well that in a year, my carribean-blue vintage side table will be replaced with a wonderful yet slightly less delicate husband... who I know is only excited about my DIY reupholstered barstools because he knows they make me happy :).
Life as a stipend-dependent grad student is far from glamorous, but it finally feels like me. Furman was wonderful, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to receive that caliber of education and meet those fabulous people... but I became very burnt out of the Furman lifestyle. I wanted to put nails in the wall, drink wine while I cooked dinner, stretch my independence a bit. I've never enjoyed being spoon-fed life. I like trial and error. I'm comfortable now.
The best part? I have someone to share this comfortable, cozy, fresh adventure with! Cory came down last night to help me around the apartment and get ready for his graduation... and the entire time he was visiting, I had this overwhelming feeling of comfort. We had spent the summer in the place -- and the environment -- where we fell in love. Mixing in wedding-filled weekends and The Big Move to Columbia made that love seem more real than ever. Not going to lie -- I'm not excited about long distance. It's a good thing we have so many more adventures to look forward to :)
Moving in has been an adventure in and of itself. The apartment opened in mid-July, but I've been working at camp during the week and hopping up and down I-26 on weekends, so Friday was my first night actually living here. I still don't have my couch or desk (among other things), but I do have cable (plus three channels... woohoo!). And groceries (already made zucchini fritters... thought of you, Jessie). And a bed that doesn't smell like mold and sound like a sinking lifeboat (thank you, Camp Spearhead).
Speaking of Spearhead... I cannot believe its over. My job was much different this year - I was designing and implementing a vocational program for some very promising and brimming-with-personality young adult campers. I had a ball... and I learned a lot. Some hilights included:
- My little brother (Pat) came to work at camp for the last few weeks! He is now "engaged" to twins with down syndrome. He also got smacked by an elder camper (I'll call him Herbert) who didn't want to go to bed. The same camper also told Pat over and over that he needed a haircut.
- Pat returned to camp with a haircut.
- Cory and I went up in a hot air balloon and got an aerial view of the tree stump where we got engaged. He "re-proposed".. which was romantic and ironic, all at the same time.
- I worked with 16 amazing camper workers. The toughest campers to work with quickly became my favorites, and I now appreciate the immense number of steps it takes to clean a bathroom, the lyrics to every Michael Jackson song known to man, and the relative unimportance of being pelted with a piece chicken in the long journey of a friendship.
- By the end of camp, I had sufficiently abandoned my Furman-esque desire to look put together. When I did randomly decide to wear my hear down (6th week, mind you), I approached one of my camper workers and asked him to go to the dining hall. He responded, "You'll have to ask my boss, Bridgette."
-- "T, I am Bridgette."
- (puzzled expression)
-- "See, look? (pulled my hair back in a ponytail) My hair is down."
- "HAHAHAHA YOUR HAIR IS DOWN! Okay, I'll go to the dining hall."
- Cory and I taught E how to mop. To do so, we had to figure out some fun, creative way to emphasize that once the floor was wet, it didn't need to be mopped again. So I told E (who liked to shake her hair in the wind and pretend she was on baywatch) that the wet floor had sharks in it... and to mop away from the sharks. To emphasize, I put my hands like a fin over my head and ran towards her.
-- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" (blood curdling scream)
- "E! What's wrong?"
-- "I thought you were a shark. You scared me."
- Weekends of weddings! TYNER AND ZEKE ARE MARRIED!, played at showers for all of the lovely marriages coming up this fall, and enjoyed pulling together details for our Big Day... so much love in the air :).
- I finally painted! Couldn't find affordable art/furniture, so I repainted an end table, the coffee table, a dresser, and a beautiful giant canvas... the later of which now hosts a giant blue crab. I named him Herbert. I can't afford a dog, so my guard-pet is a two dimensional crustacean... he's beautiful and slightly intimidating.
So many more thoughts, but not nearly enough energy to write them. Expect more blog posts soon, though... I tend to write more when I'm far away from my best friends and the love of my life... particularly when I'm also embarking on a new and exciting journey.
PS. My amazing fiance graduated with his masters today! Hooray! He is celebrating by plowing a dingo around pleasant ridge for the next three days. To each his own :)
1 comment:
you inspire me dear birdy.
Post a Comment