headed home

As I sat in the middle seat of the large airplane headed toward Denver from San Fran I was deep in thought with a heavy heart. I was disapointed that the two weeks came and gone so fast, that it was time to go back to "my life" - work, responsibilty, a messy room, my family....I was excited but sad. On the plane I kept thinking about my new friends and just recaping the whole trip.I went into the trip thinking I was going to spend two weeks away from drama and my family and just waste time hanging out having fun.

While I had fun my eyes were open to so much: (these are as they come to mind so no order of importance)
1st - I take my family for granted. They love me so much and ask me to little things but I frequently act like they and their tasks are an inconvience to my living and breathing. my new outlook on my family is that they love me and don't think of me as a fuck up or a worthless piece of shit - no matter how bad and often I make mistakes, they are always there for me.
2nd - When times are hard, I have a hope that they will end and that good will come from it at some point. That hope is in Christ. I have that perspective with me because I saw some crazy hard times with my friends that I stayed with, as R's mom loses her vision and the death of his uncle. C's fam doesn't give a crap about him...I don't feel like I should disclose their personal issues.

These two things are huge and have greatly impacted my life - I hope all who read will hold me to this when they hear me complain about my fam or my situation.

So while I got away from my drama I entered a whole new level of drama, it kept things interesting and I am very greatful to be back in mine. However the high lights of the trip:

Well to start things off in Denver I had a blonde moment or a "classic Rachel moment". My friend Mel and I were trying to locate our gate during our layover and decided to use the conveyor belt to "speed walk" down the air port wing. Well the second I stepped on I lost my balance and smacked Mel in the face with my right hand as my left hand grasped the side rail. Needless to say the onlookers gave me a look that suggested i needed the word STUPID stamped across my face. However Mel and I got a pretty good kick out of it - for days.
The second thing that sticks out in my mind was Aiden, a seven year old boy that we got to spend a bit of time with. He named his grandmothers cow "cake" which wasn't very suprising considering this kid was fat as well as incredibly gullible, more so than i!! shocker i know. Mel and I got him to believe that Mel was a mind reader. For instance, he said he was six but his birthday was coming up that weekend and with out missing a beat Melissa concluded, "so you'll be seven" wide eyes and mystified, aiden said "How did you know?"
I had a few other rachel moments like linking trany to transmition and thinking a house light was Saturn, hey it was in the distance and really dark out. I claimed to have eaten a bowl of Captian Retardo for breakfast those mornings as well.

All in all it was a good trip - Mel and I lost quite a bit of weight due to the fact that no one seems to eat in Cali. It was my first trip w/o the fam and certainly not the last. It was a good way to end my first "school year" in college. I am no longer scared of flying by myself - meaning with out supervision (aka: no one holding my hand or showing me where to go). Next summer I want to take some small trips around Montana to random places that have things to do - like to Polson to swim in the river and lake, go to Kalispell to the gravity house....but for right now I am so excited for school - more than I have ever been! My credit load is small but the classes are going to be tough. I'm so stoked to see what God has for my life in the coming school year!

until then - peace.