2017 - A Tribute

I don't like sappy posts, ones like the one I'm about to write, despite hating sappy posts. 2017. I'm not even sure what I want to say. I decided to write this rather last minute. 

2017 started out kind of rocky for me. I was dealing with a fresh break up after 2 1/2 years. I graduated high school in January, and felt overwhelmed and stressed by all the crazy college stuff I was suddenly thrown into. I felt like I had no direction. I knew what I wanted to go to school for and where, but wondered if it was even worth it. I felt smothered by the idea of living with my parents while I did online college and worked at the same job I had since 16. I wondered how I would ever move forward in my life while in that position. I also managed to get involved with a tough crowd, something I'm not comfortable sharing on the big wide web. Let's just say, it was rough and only made me handle everything else going on in my life in unhealthy ways. 

It seemed that I always had a list in the back of my mind of things I was worried, unsure, or upset about. As I already said, I was seriously lacking a direction. However, this all changed when I received a message from Hannah saying they officially signed the lease to an apartment and would be emailing my copy shortly. This is something that I was not expecting, for the journey of them trying to find a place to live hadn't been going well and I was rarely given information on the matter. The idea of moving across the country seemed an unlikely and far too hopeful dream. Yet this opportunity opened up for me by the grace of God, and before I knew it I was making plans for the move. 

The summer leading up to the move was kind of hectic, but he road trip to Idaho was full of touristy stops and bonding between us three. Somehow the move itself didn't feel real until my mom and sister actually left my apartment to drive back to Pennsylvania. It took me a solid month to adjust and I admit there were nights I thought I may have made a mistake. 

I was actually just thinking today about how odd it is to think that I've only lived in Moscow for four months. The first two months felt really fast, I remember Hannah saying to me one day "Mand! You've been here two months already, that's crazy!" Meanwhile, the last two months have felt slow and I'm so thankful for that. It seems the more comfortable I become and the closer I get to people, the slower the time goes. That's exactly how I want it. 

I love Moscow. I am so unbelievably happy and thankful that God led me down the path and granted me the abilities to change my life in the best way possible. I have been accepted into an amazing community of people who have blessed and influenced me ways I can't even explain. I have found an amazing church that has managed to change my entire perspective of the church family. I have been given the opportunity to work in a Christian daycare that not only allows me to love, care for, and aid the development of 7 precious lives, but also funds an orphanage in Africa. On top of that, I've met an amazingly generous and humble woman who has given me the biggest job opportunity I've ever received come August. Not only will I be able to help this family, but I will be able to afford moving forward in my degree. 

Coming home for Christmas has made me realize that not only have all these outward aspects in my life changed, but my perspective has as well. Through the new church and with the guidance/encouragement from my new friends, I have grown in my faith and look forward to continuous growth. I can't even put into words all that has changed in my life since moving. I just know that moving to Moscow, Idaho was my biggest and most drastic decision of 2017 - scratch that, my life - and  has already proven to be the best. 

I am ending 2017 and beginning 2018 with my best friend. We somehow always know exactly what the other needs. Apparently, right now we need individual size pies, spiked sparkling grape juice, and binging a crappy drama on Netflix. All the while, Hannah is attempting to make a hat, and I'm attempting to organize my 7 photo albums (+a garbage bag of pictures). To everyone else, this sounds like a very odd and probably lame New Years Eve. But this is exactly what I want. This is exactly what we need. I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Winter Festivities: Part 2

Part 2:
 

We decided to go to Bobby and John’s place first, since it’s the furthest and would require backtracking otherwise. After finally getting up their steep hill, we started heading to the Burnets. As we are walking down a fairly icey hill, I told Rachel that I was going to slip and fall down the hill. She responds with “Haha oh, that man down there will just catch you” with a little nudge. I look down the hill and notice that a guy was walking in our direction. I jokingly say, “what if that was John?” In which Rachel pauses, then panickily says “WAIT! THAT IS JOHN!” Followed by us doing full 180 turns and frantically running back up the hill. Rachel’s muffled obscenities were mixed in with our screaming/hysterical laughter as we ran in the middle of the street, trying not to slip on the ice. We managed to escape and thought we were safe, only to see a guy riding a bike in our direction. Again, I jokingly say “Watch, now that will be Bobby” and of course Rachel responds with “WAIT! THAT IS BOBBY!” We ran across the road into this ditch on the side of the road until he turned a corner. The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful, but a beautiful walk nonetheless. 

I rushed home to get ready for the charity dance. It was great, I helped Charli bake cookies, then danced to music with the girls while we got ready. We went down to the church and had a fantastic night of dancing. I’m so glad I got to dance before flying home, it’s something I’m really going to miss during break. After the dance, we invited everyone to come back to the apartments to hang out and have root beer floats. Around 11:00, a small group of people came up to my apartment to watch the last three episodes of Stranger Things. However, I left around 12:30 to go for a late-night walk in the snow with Charli. As I previously mentioned, I love the snow. It’s even more beautiful and peaceful to walk in at night, where it sparkles in the street lights and makes the world feel still and quiet. We walked around for probably two hours, talking and laughing the whole time. Afterwards, we decided to drive to Walmart to get some last-minute Christmas supplies. This marks my second night of going to bed at 4:00am. I guess I was getting payback for not having to pull all-nighters with my friends during week 7 and 8. 

After church the following day, I went with Christy and Ruth to the guys apartment next door to watch eat sandwiches and watch Ladyhawke, which I 10/10 recommend. It was fantastic. Hannah and I got locked out of our apartment, so I hung out downstairs until Emily saved the day and brought us a key. Thus, began my frantic cleaning and packing. I managed to clean the entire kitchen and pack all my bags with time to spare before our Christmas party. I also was able to begin this endless blog post that night, while Hannah, Ruth, and Christy cooked an amazing dinner for our two apartments. We all gathered together and had dinner, complete with sparkling cider and Christmas music. Afterwards, we divvied out the giant pile of presents under their tree, sat in a big circle, and slowly opened all of our presents together. It was one of the best Christmas celebrations I’ve ever experienced, we had so much fun. I received boxers from Handerson, and surprised her with a kitchen timer in return 😉

Between 9:30 and 10:00, I piled into the car with Charli, Rachel, Heather, Christy, and Ruth to meet people to go sled riding. We sang at the top of our lungs while sliding around back roads to get to the sledding hill. I was expecting a decent hill but was not nearly prepared for the monster hill we arrived at. I’ve never seen such a long and steep hill for sledding before. It was extremely intimidating. It also took me ages to even climb to the top of it. Once at the top, I decided there was no way I was sledding down that hill, especially after seeing a girl leave for the ER after hurting her foot. I hung around at the top of the hill until it was time to leave. With much protest, Rachel convinced (forced) me to sled down the hill with her as we left. It was probably the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had. It was fun, but only after it was over. I clung to Rachel so tight on the way down, and I think I may have been too scared to even scream, I can’t remember. About ¾ of the way down, we got thrown off the sleds and rolled the rest of the way down, somehow managing to hurt my right shoulder and left hip, and completely cover myself in snow. 

Luckily, I was able to warm up to the best hot chocolate in the world, made by Rachel <3 Everyone came back to my apartment for this famous hot chocolate and to hang out. As with most of our gatherings, the night ended with a few rounds of freeze improv. I never take part because I am too nervous, but it is amazingly fun to watch. 

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes. I haven’t had pancakes in so long, it was the best surprise Handerson could have done. She made us a big roommate breakfast to enjoy together before her and I got picked up to go to the airport. Leaf, Benjamin, and Caleb picked us up, and before we knew it, the van was packed with people. We had every seat filled, complete with our carry-on bags on all our laps. During the hour and 45-minute drive, we played different name games and ate Cheetos; as well as laughed at Leaf’s dancing and array of foods he pulled out of his backpack (pork-chops and rice to be specific). Turned out he has fresh homemade bread and butter in there too, which he sliced and gave to us all as we hung outside airport security for an hour. 

I eventually had to say goodbye to all of my friends, and get on the first of two long plane rides home. But that brings me to now, home. I’ve been home for two days and every one of them has been filled with seeing my family and friends none stop. I’m extremely thankful that I was able to have such an eventful last few days with all of my new friends, and even more thankful that I get to have an eventful month with my well-missed family.

Winter Festivities: Part 1

I'm not even finished with this blog post. It turned out to be so long, and I've been so busy, that it's taken me over four days to even type this much. SO, I'm splitting it into two parts.

Part 1: 
In my opinion, my family celebrates Christmas pretty big. My entire family gets really into it, especially my mom. We are really big on presents, but not in a bad way. I just grew up loving being able to give to everyone I love. However, I do not think I have ever been as festive as I have been this year. Yeah, my family loves Christmas; but it’s only Christmas Eve/Christmas day. My parent’s church doesn’t follow the church calendar, so the weeks leading to Christmas are just filled with shopping, wrapping, and some baking. Other than that, the festivities are reserved for the 24th and 25th.

It’s been really different for me here. This whole month has been full of all kinds Christmas/winter merriments. To start, I’ve gone caroling three times in the past two weeks. Three. Times. I’ve never been before this. And I love it. I’ve gone to multiple Christmas parties and fairs, as well as did a secret Santa gift exchange and lots and lots of singing.

However, this past weekend has been the most exciting by far. On Friday, everyone finally finished finals, including myself. I was part of a big Christmas party at work, in which Santa came and the parents brought lots of yummy treats for the teachers (yess). After finishing my last day of work before flying home, I came outside to discover a winter wonderland! This is the first real snow I’ve seen since moving here and I absolutely love it. And no, I’m not the type of person who tires of snow after a month. I love snow. I had a beautiful walk home, where I found Rachel inside getting ready to go Christmas shopping. I decided to tag along, so we tracked through the snow and went to the mall. Anything is fun when I’m with her, even being in the cold and being forced to walk from Winco to Walmart. While at Walmart, we spontaneously decided to bake muffins for a few apartments where our friends live. We somehow got the idea that 6 dozen muffins would be enough. A cart-full of groceries later, we are trudging through the snow again to catch the bus, then again to walk home.

Rachel had to rush off to work as soon as we got home, and the Hannah’s and I had to rush off to a party. This meant we would have to bake the muffins when we both got home late that night, but more on that later. Anyways, we went to this party and enjoyed pizza (literally the best white pizza I’ve ever had, despite feeling sick to my stomach by Leaf’s repulsive pineapple), singing, and making paper snowflakes. We ended the night with watching White Christmas, a movie I’ve never seen before. I definitely did not fall asleep for 1/3 of it….

As we were leaving the party (Close to midnight I think? Or later maybe. Who knows. Just late), someone thought it was a brilliant idea to chuck a snowball at someone. I can’t even tell you who started the fight, because a full-on snowball war began within seconds. Before I knew it, I was covered head to toe in snow. But not as bad as Leaf, who literally jumped and slid his body over a snowy car and dived into the snow, just to dodge a snowball. Anyways, we finally went home and began cooking. We baked, and baked, and baked, until 4:30 in the morning. I think we ended up with 7 or 8 dozen muffins. Rachel had work in the morning until 2, so I woke up at 9:00 to individually wrap every muffin and package everything up in bags. Then I met her in town to carol in Friendship Square. As soon as caroling was finished, we rushed off to begin delivering muffins. We were crunched on time because we had to walk to three different places in the snow, and Rachel had to be at work before 5:00...


To be continued....