Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Home Sweet Home...

Surprise! I am back in the States.

Thursday, July 16th
I flew from Barcelona to Washington D.C. to visit Kaity Ruhland for a few days. I had a wonderful time with her. It was nice to catch up after not seeing each other since fall 2007. It is amazing to me that we can pick up like it was yesterday. Young Life friendships sure are special. Her family was fabulous and so was her cute boyfriend, Shane. We spent a few wonderful hours chattin it up in IHOP at 2 in the morning before my flight.

Saturday, July 18th
After going to the wrong airport (Note to Self: Know what airport you are flying out of), I still made my flight. Finally, I was in MCI. It felt so weird to see something familiar. I was in major culture shock - even more so than when I flew to Europe. But it also felt good to know where I was. Driving home was really interesting. I kept repeating to myself, "I'm in Kansas."
The nicest, happiest person I know picked me up from the airport. What would I have done without Emily Evans?
We pull up to my house and to my surprise, all the cars were in the drive way. This was a surprise to me because I had not talked to my family for a few days, and they thought I was still in Spain. Yup, they didn't have a clue I was in the States. What a surprise!
Emily and I walk right up to my front door to ring the doorbell. At this point, I am freaking out. It felt so weird to be back on my front steps. My family was about to have the surprise of their life (or at least, the surprise of the summer).
I ran the bell and after a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, my dad answers the says,
"Hi."
He says "hi"! Are you kidding me? I fly across the world to surprise my family with my presence and I get a "Hi." Not even a "Hello there." He says, "Hi." Really? Not even an exciting "hi," just a normal "hi." A greeting you give someone you work with, that you see daily and don't really even like too much.
No doubt in my mind that my face showed my disappointment.
Then to my surprise, he perks up and begins to greet me enthusiastically. "Oh My Gosh.." and such. He grabs me for a big embrace. I don't think I have even been held so tight. Also, I am pretty sure I saw tears. Dad was excited to have his girl home.
To explain his first reaction, he says it didn't process who he was looking at. I was that much of a surprise. I bet a look a bit different after the Italian chopped off my hair (now thats a whole other blog entry in its self).
Then the best part, my Mom pokes her head down from upstairs. Her face was priceless. She was in utter shock. She nearly ran to hug me.
It was a really good feeling to be home. My parents couldn't stop smiling, looking at me like I was a spectacle, and hugging me all day long. (Funny, how fast that wore off... kidding, kind of).
They were happy to have me home. I am pretty sure my Mom was a mess the whole time I was gone. Unfortunately, she simply needs to buck up because I am off again...

Yup, that's right. I am leaving yet again. This time I don't need my passport though.

I literally just found out yesterday that I am headed to Challenge, California to volunteer on Summer Staff at Woodleaf, a Young Life camp. I have to be there a week from Sunday and will be there until August 24. This is really exciting. My good friend Susheel Kumar will be there as well, and Kailey VanderBaan comes for a week, too! I cannot believe how wonderful this is.

I know I have failed at blogging about my trip around Europe. I will have to reminisce and retell all the crazy stories as time goes on. I mean I did spend my last week in Europe road tripping around Spain with Australian blokes to go cliff jumping and sky diving. Oh, and I did run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Viva San Fermin! Needless to say, I have stories...

Life is exciting as always. I will be living out of a suitcase again soon... as always. But I love my SuitCase Life.

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