.connecticut.

what is there to say? nothing, except that like the rest of the country, my stomach hurts.

today when i got to my friends aaron and irene's house,

i scooped their five-year-old up and hugged him hard and long,

burying my face in his little-boy hair as he, oblivious, told me about how he helped his dad change the brake pads today.

last night i cuddled and laughed and ate nachos with my cohort at jeffrey and sheri's,

all of us gleeful and triumphant over finishing the hardest academic semester we've ever done.

it was good to be with them.

i dragged my finals-weary body out of bed early this morning and went to see some of my little girls play basketball.

i sat on the high-school-gym bleachers with their moms, and cheered as their lean, happy ten-year-old selves ran around the court, high-fiving each other and hustling to catch rebounds.

i thought of young women teaching elementary schoolers,

like this one,

and lynn, and christine,

until i couldn't anymore.

what else is there to do?

hold the ones you love.

Continued...

The fireplaces in Saga

And in the reading room

All the cozy places there are to read or study or be on campus

The photo mug Lynn made me for Christmas senior year

All the photos up all over our apartment

Poetry (rhythm makes me happy)

Beautiful writing

Convicting writing

Pieces of writing, in general.

Henri Nouwen

Journals

Journaling

Christine and her humility

Laura and the way she takes care of people

Matt and how he can go from laughing to serious and back again at just the right times

Snail mail

Care packages, making and getting

HNGR as a whole

Getting to go through the application process with some of my sophomore friends. NEVER having to go through it myself again (hahaha!!!)

Knowing that God is taking care of me

Knowing that He is working more than I can see

Not having to be perfect (I feel like that makes it onto every thankfulness list I ever write)

Tamara and that we're having weekly dates now

Trader Joe's

Goat cheese