Bandaid

I have been waiting for this Easter break since Christmas. In some ways I’d been waiting for it since Naomi’s wedding. I’ve had a countdown on my computer for the last 2 months. Easter break meant not only the first time I’d been home since Christmas, but also the first time I’d seen my most important friends since Naomi’s wedding. It did not disappoint.

Throughout the last 9 days I have reunited with the SuperFriends through lots of food, the fort, the holler, Fairmont, Morgantown, Panera, the Suburban, my parents’ ever-changing house, and extremely conservative and unabashedly voiced opinions (not so much ours). I have spent the night with Heather, gone to Blackbear with Heather and Sara, shared new music with Sara, gotten my hair cut and lusted over George with mom, had lunch and looked at the improvements on the classic cars with dad, taken Maggie to a movie, eaten dinner with mom, dad, Jess, Jen, Maggie, and Heather, and a lot of other miscellany. It’s been good to be home.

I do, however, have a ravaging headache because I do not like my dad’s coffee. Today I tried to drink a Pepsi to fend it off, but no such luck. I could have fought it off by making a pot of the Starbucks they have on hand after dad polished off his “Jamaican Blue Mountain”. But I didn’t, so instead I just focus on my forehead. Thrice I convinced whoever I was with for the day that it was necessary to make it to Morgantown or Clarksburg in order to sneak in some Starbucks. Muahahaha.

I could stand to stay here for another while and not head back to the ‘Boro. I do miss my own space, though. I miss my stuff and the way it’s organized and so very ME. But it is nice to be home, to be known and understood, to be appreciated for the nuances that the ‘Boro people just haven’t learned to recognize yet. I do, however, think that it is better for everyone involved if I am not at home for long stretches of time. It makes everything harder. Before I left for NC, I was home for 8 months. That was just long enough for everyone in my home life to get firmly attached to the idea of having me around. I love being home, and I appreciate and long for it more when I’m away. But (while they would disagree) I think it’s a bit selfish of me to stay for too long and let everyone get perfectly content and attached before ripping myself away again. Not to say that I won’t visit as often…I will. But it does hurt to be the one who is constantly ripping the bandaid off.

This is going to hurt me just as much as it hurts you.

How many W’s can you find in this picture?

Week 3. Or so the fingers would indicate. I have failed to update with anything up to this point since the day I got internet. Mostly because I’m a failure. So are more than half my students…Yeah. Not even joking. According to the other teachers that is normal-last year’s freshmen failed the first 6 weeks, too. It is, however, a bit disconcerting to look at your grades listed and see all F’s, D’s, and C’s.

I feel like I’m finally starting to get the hang of the New Tech model. I don’t have it fully, but I’ve definitely improved. Because I’m in the ideal situation, I talk to pretty much all of the other teachers daily, getting advise and sponging off of their vents, resources, and wisdom. Chris (principal) stops in my classroom during my planning about every other day, and he’s in my classroom at least once a day. He likes to see what’s going on in the classes. Just so you know, this is not normal. One of my classes makes me want to tear out my hair sometimes…or perhaps their hair… For some reason the other 2 classes are great. They’re kids-sometimes they talk too much and get distracted. But they respect me and listen. They actually do what I tell them to do. The other class…not so much. They could care less.

Since I moved here I’ve been required to entertain myself on a weekend ONCE. In over a month. Awesome. One weekend Mom & Dad were here, the next I went home, Labor Day Heather and Rachel were here, and then this weekend Mom & Dad spontaneously vacationed here and we spent Sunday at my dad’s cousin’s house at Lake Norman. They took us out on their pontoon boat and I went out on their jet skis with dad’s cousin. I DID hang out with someone new this weekend, though. Three someones, actually. Went to dinner, watched a movie-perhaps I am capable of making friends outside of college? With said friend I am (as of 20 minutes ago) working the concession stand at Friday’s football game. Just call me Sally Smalltown.

Although I have had visitors every weekend, I’m getting that “time to go home” itch a bit. It happens when I move somewhere-I get physically antsy to visit home. There used to be a defined line when I was at Rochester. For weeks I’d be fine. Then all of a sudden I was just…off. I do have a date for which to shoot, though- after week 6 I get to go home. I get to go to work, drive 7 hours, and then stay up all night. And I can’t wait. For 7 years I’ve been driving 7 hours randomly just for the weekend to go to my youth group’s lock-in. It is the most impractical trip I make yearly. Last year was the first year I missed it, and I’m elated to go back. (I would, however, love to be back in Europe missing it again…No offense, lock-in.)

I think I’ve found a church. Providence Road Church of Christ. It’s an hour and 20 minutes away. Jeff Walling’s church in Charlotte. That is quite a long way to drive for church. I quickly realized, however, that I need that comfort zone. I could go to one of the Baptist/Methodist/Episcopalian/etc. churches around here and feel fine about it. I’d be fine just being happy to disagree about the points with which I don’t agree and going with it for the “assembly/family” aspect of church. BUT I’ve come to find out that, while I can feel fine about going to another church, going to a church of Christ is so FAMILIAR, even if it’s full of strangers. When the whole rest of my world here is still pretty unfamiliar, I’m okay with driving an hour and a half to feel at home once a week. And they have a small group that’s only about a half an hour away. Plus it gives me a reason to hang out in Charlotte once a week.

I made some pretty tasty pasta today-cream sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, bacon. It wasn’t what I expected from the recipe, but it was good. I’m excited to eat it again tomorrow.