Today marks 10 months since I left for Uruguay. Double digits! Holy cow! (Fun fact: there are five cows for every one person here in Uruguay. Maybe even more now! Holy cow indeed!)
This week was a long one. I feel like things I did on Monday or Tuesday happened 43 years ago-- probably due to the lack of sleep from my 1ST URUGUAYAN SLEEPOVER!!! (With real-life-Uruguayans!) On Tuesday night my friend Chiara and I ate dinner at our friend Josefina's apartment, and then studied, ate junk food, and laughed the night away...almost literally... We got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I don't think I've recuperated yet... My 21 year old self just can't handle pajama parties like my 20 year old self could ;)
In other news, my best friend here, Lindsay, leaves tomorrow to head back to the U.S.A. Our church group threw a surprise party for her on Friday night which was a lot of fun--and the surprise was a success! It felt like everything was coming to full-circle: Lindsay and I started this huge Uruguayan experience together by going on a retreat in August with a lot of the same people... and ten months later, we were spending one of her final nights together with them--people who have turned from "other Uruguayans on the retreat" to "our dear friends."One of our dear friends from the group invited Lindsay and I over to her apartment yesterday to have lunch with her family. We stayed for hours, and once again I was amazed by the kindness, joy, and love I could see amongst all of them. It made me so, so thankful for my family back at home, and also reminded me of what I want for my future family. After lunch I returned home, rested with some good ol' Arrested Development on Netflix, and then made my way back to Lindsay's for another goodbye get-together.
I am so sad to see Lindsay go, but I find comfort in knowing that this is not a final goodbye. She has been (and continues to be) a true friend, and true friendships last.
I guess I'm just at a weird point where it's like I'm almost home but still have a significant amount of time here, time I know is going to fly by, and I don't quite know how to handle that. I feel like I'm beginning to close this circle I've been drawing for so long now, and it's a horrible-mixed-up-mess of emotions: the sadness of leaving my life and the ones I love here, but also joy in returning to my life and the ones I love back at home. It's all very grey-ish... if you will.
I don't know...that's just what I'm feeling right now, so I thought I'd share! I guess these feelings mean that I really have enjoyed my experience here, otherwise I wouldn't care! And there's absolutely no regret in that. Bolded & underlined.
Resolution: SIMPLY ENJOY THE REST OF MY TIME HERE LIKE I HAVE ENJOYED THE PAST TEN MONTHS.
On a more chipper note: Happy Pentecost Sunday! "Come Holy Spirit!" (That song's for you Dad... click on the link, then go dance around the kitchen for me.)
ALSO--CONGRATS, to my baby-brother and his girlfriend for winning Prom King and Queen! We're fay-mous!
That's all for now folks!
Off to live in the moment--
Courtney
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