Lovely

Hi, everyone!

Finally, because my intensive Lithuanian class is over (more on that later), I am at last able to post to this snazzy blog! And thank goodness, because apparently Anthony and Mike are about five minutes from excommunicating Sarah and me for our silence! Sadly, though, they will not be a fan of this post, because it is going to be a triffle schmultzy.

I am moving on Friday. It is completely unreal to me, as I have lived in Bloomington, IN (save summers) since the Fall of 1999. Now, 1.75 degrees later, I am venturing out-- into the very unknown. For the next two months, I will be working as a full-time volunteer with the Sisters of Charity in El Paso, TX. Three days of week I will work in their medical clinic in New Mexico (writing grants, etc.) and then two days a week I will work in their clinic for disabled children in Juarez, Mexico (I think my job there will entail lots of driving about the crazy, sandy streets of Juarez picking up families and transporting them to and from the clinic). One of my good friends is already of a full-time volunteer with the SoC there, so I am very much looking forward to q-t with her and my other friends in the area (several years ago, I did an internship in El Paso).

While in "The Pass", I have a second priority: finding "for real" full time work. As I am so sick of school my eyes are starting to swim, I have decided to finish my degree in concert with full-time employment. I have a job offer with a gov't agency (pending the sucessful completion of my background check), but that "pending" is stretching into impurtitude. Consequently, I *need* to find a job (yikes!). So, my evening and weekends for the next two months will entail lots of cover letter writing and resume sending. And, after two months at the Border... well, who knows, I guess? I am a Daughter of Fortune these days-- I am hopeful that my luck will continue and something pleasant will pan out. Fingers crossed.

Okay, enough about me; please allow me to share with you about what is truly amazing: the lovely people in my life. Namely, Anthony and Laura. This past weekend, Anthony and Laura (1/2 of the "churchies" friend group-- which I am delighted to announce that I did not name!) threw the most beautiful going away party for Sarah and me (Sarah is heading to Boston College for a joint masters-- I will refrain from saying more, so that she may share the exciting details with you). I wish I could capture the enchantment of the evening in words, but it is impossible to create a complete picture of all of the warm goodness of the night. Perfect weather, grill fare, pine sprigs duct taped to oak trees, two priests and a couple of campus ministers, alcohol, dancing, Dolly Parton (not live, unfortunately-- that would have been really incredible!), the Coors lite chug, "Bye, Friends" the Cake, besties spirited from Chicago, O.P.P, copious amounts of alcohol, dancing citrinela candles (not those dastardly eye-sore tiki torches found at less enjoyable affairs), more and more alcohol, the Pennsylvannia Polka, and friends, friends, beautiful beautiful friends.

My life is lovely. I spent the night ensorcled by all the incredible that surrounds me here. "...all I could think was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful and yet again, wonderful" (Harris, L.A. Story). Leaving such awe-inspiring perfect seems unreal, because everything lovely in my life is so deep and rich.

Really, I am a little mad at Anthony and Laura. Why are they making leaving that much harder?!! Why must they be so nice and thoughtful and caring and wonderful? Those bastards!

Honestly, though, Anthony and Laura are once-in-a-lifetime friends. So much beauty crammed into two lil' people. The "churchies" have been the single most important blessing of my last two years in Bloomington. Absolutely sincerely, friends, thank you for loving me so well. I love you very much.

I better stop. If I thought that my blogship was precarious before this post, it is absolutely in question once Anthony (and probably Mike, too) reads this rambling, Kumbaya treasties of love and friendship. For those of you just meeting me with this post, trust me: I am usually not this kind. Especially about others. Though I do share nice things about myself once in awhile! ;) I am hopeful the comment section will be filled with testaments to my salitness. Future posts will likely be less pleasant, thank God. So don't discount me yet! ;)

I will post a picture from the festivies once Anthony shows me how. I am not quite twenty-first century yet (though I do own my first cell phone! Crazy!).