life is unraveling and being woven together

amanda and i at a park in chilliwack after teacher's convention
amanda and denise checking out the fish
an incredibly pc pose
october sunrise at ebenezer
this is from the front step of my classroom...

kerri and i ready to plow mt. shuksan
i be a photographer!
the meenderincks ignoring the "danger! slippery rocks!" sign
kerri and i in a tree...there IS a story behind this!
some pretty mountains

The honeymoon is definitely over. I'm realizing that when I go home for Christmas, I won't really be going home, because I'll have to leave again. Today, that realization really freaked me out. I was at Target today and it was CRAZY with families shopping for Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/we need to buy stuff because we haven't bought anything for two days. And I really missed my mom. I saw tons of mothers and daughters, and all I wanted was to wander the aisles of Target with Mom and talk about how premature the holiday stuff is. I miss you, Mom. And Dad, every time I see an SUV (or a Hummer at a gas station...a frequent occurrence for gas-guzzlers, you know), I scoff and miss you, too.

I have tons of people out here to connect with...but they're not my family. I have officially reached the I've-never-been-away-from-my-family-for-this-long point and I'm still going.

As Phil says....life is unraveling and being woven together at the same time. Life as we know it is ending, but something new is beginning. It's scary and refreshing and scary and fun and really really scary. Hopefully the end result is a beautiful design. Hopefully.

a countdown: take two

--days of rain in the last 11 days: 10
--days of school in the last 4 days: 0
--incoming calls on my cell phone in the last 24 hours: 10
*Note: Apparently Saturday is "I miss Andrea and I should call her!" day. It never rains but
it pours. Thank you, friends and family; you have shown me love.
--meals eaten in my home in the last 5 days: 0 (except for breakfast w/ Denise on Friday a.m.)
--hours of teacher's convention spent catching up with Dordt people: all of them!
--number of recent Dordt grads bumped into during said convention: 9 (I think that's all)
--number of full-spectrum light bulbs now installed in my room to give me the feeling of
sunshine: 4
--amount of french fries eaten in the last four days: 3 pounds-ish
--hours spent laughing in Ryan Stiles' Bellingham UpFront Theatre: 2.5ish
--text messages sent/received in the last 4 days: 58

I think I need to change my texting plan.