Yolo; Thats What She Said; and, Richmond's domination, yet again

To say 'its been a while' would be cliche i suppose, but I also suppose that it is the truth. The summer has ended just as it begun, without warning without preparation. I have officially finished my duties as a Hope Church intern (but am also learning that my duties as a relational ministry leader will never end if I am going to be honest with myself...), and in about 24 hours I will be making the trek down I-64 then a few more miles down I-81 to exit 245, back to my collegiate life, back to Harrisonburg, back to classes and papers and mass produced food.

I will be leaving behind challenging and encouraging fellowship, dear friends, and my wonderful wonderful home. Although JMU is such a big part of my life, it will never take the place of Richmond and all that entails: Hope, my sisters, my community. This by no means equates to me not wanting to be there, but it all comes back to the feeling of always having my heart in a few places. In richmond, in harrisonburg, in texas, in prague.



All in all, I am never completely without. I am always provided for abundantly, but that doesnt neccesitate easy maneuvering from one place to the other. It will always hurt, I am assured. But thats okay, because when I shed tears over the ending of this summer and my return to JMU, it is also a celebration of deep friendships and the knowledge that I have experienced great love over these past few months. So all my sadness is still joy. Its all so horribly ironic.

As I think back on all these amazing memories I remember camping in the rain, and spending hours on the boat, and island hopping in the Bahamas, and playing spades until 3am, and having sleepovers with either Annie and/or Jess every night, and playing frisbee on the beach, or waking up at 5am just to hike a mountain and see the sunrise over the skyline of the Blue Ridge mountains.



Yes, I believe it has been a unusually great summer where I have found more love and grace than I would have ever begun to anticipate. If anything I have been so perfectly filled to return back to JMU. Thats the most exciting part. I have witnessed that the search for community is not futile, that in some mixed up way, in most likely some unlikely circumstances, it can happen and once it does, as my dear friend Emily says...'Slink!'

More from me later.