Free at last.
Oh my god. My weekend has officially ended.
This is the first time I have sat in my room alone contemplating what to do with the rest of the day until work.
So, firstly, my little sister (who's actually 16, so I don't know why I continue to call her "little,") Meaghan stayed with me and Shannon from Friday until.. a few minutes ago (Monday). My mom and dad left town for a wedding in Iowa of people Meaghan didn't know -- and obviously hanging out with one's older sister and her friends is a lot better than a road trip with one's parents. On top of Meaghan hanging out in the dorms, this was also the weekend of the "Hamline Experience" where various students on campus host perspectives and make them want to come to Hamline next year. Pretty sure me and Shan rocked at that - our kid (Amanda) loved us, and she was super cool too. Shan was very excited because not only did Amanda like the color pink, but she liked NASCAR. And Shan is a huge NASCAR fan; moments earlier she was shouting for Jimmie Johnson to win the Daytona and the entire floor knew about it. (She was explaining the ways of NASCAR to me and Meaghan as we watched the beginning and end of it, as well.)
Meaghan also took random adventures with me before Amanda got here.... we took the bus to Alice's party on the day of all days for it to be cold enough to freeze one's nostrils.. but it was nice to see Alice, Chris, Ruby, etc again so it ended up being worth it. (We would have frozen to death if Alice didn't give us any additional "duds" for the ride back.) The morning after that we walked to Perkins.. our waiter gave us free orange juice.. :-P I introduced Meaghan to the "ways of Hamline" (in particular, the group, and especially Kevo because a world without Kevo is no world at all).
In addition to that aspect of Hamline, however, she also saw people coming back wasted out of their minds when we got home from Alice's party. I could tell she felt uncomfortable, so I told her to stick around my dorm room while I ended up taking care of Kevo, Sam, and KG for the majority of the night. I walked KG to the bathroom and held her hair back as she was puking, I made sure everyone knew where their designated trash bin was, and I made all of them drink water in order to get the "poison" out of their blood (that's what Kevo kept calling it; he also kept telling me that his liver was "fighting like a man," and we should call him Chuck Norris..) *sigh* They drank way too much. But I must say, I never thought I would be so helpful in such a situation. When it happens to you, you're incredibly thankful for all of the people that took care of you, and you can't believe that they were willing to do stuff like clean up your puke or stop you from passing out on the toilet..... it's only when you do this for someone else that you understand how it all works. You understand why it's okay to be there for them no matter what rather than get grossed out and leave. I finally understand how moms deal with the disgusting stuff their children do - Shan calls it our natural maternal instinct, where suddenly taking care of your friends is the only thing that makes sense. I was in The Man Room for a considerbly long period of time, making sure everyone was okay until they finally went to sleep with nothing left to puke up.... it felt wonderful. It reminded me of what they said when they helped me and Shannon a few months ago: you'd do it for us. And it's true. I just never believed one's willingness to help would accumulate to such an extent.
Needless to say, it was a pretty crazy weekend. Full of plenty of food and coffee (and caramel white hot chocolates for Meaghan :-P) and Comedy Sportz - and Kevo being one of the volunteers!! - but I had fun. It's going to be hard stepping into the reality of school tomorrow (even though I had a class today, but that hardly counts), with three relatively difficult classes to attend and homework to complete before then as well as work tonight....... but I'll do it, because that's just what I do. And it'll be a chaotic week, but oh well, this weekend was worth it. (I wrote that so I could remind myself later, when I'm freaking out with too much to do and very little time to do it in.)
I'm going to go find something to entertain myself with. It's not likely going to be homework, so I'm clearly already making smart choices for this week, but at least I'm acknowledging my bad decisions now rather than wondering what the hell happened by Thursday.
This is the first time I have sat in my room alone contemplating what to do with the rest of the day until work.
So, firstly, my little sister (who's actually 16, so I don't know why I continue to call her "little,") Meaghan stayed with me and Shannon from Friday until.. a few minutes ago (Monday). My mom and dad left town for a wedding in Iowa of people Meaghan didn't know -- and obviously hanging out with one's older sister and her friends is a lot better than a road trip with one's parents. On top of Meaghan hanging out in the dorms, this was also the weekend of the "Hamline Experience" where various students on campus host perspectives and make them want to come to Hamline next year. Pretty sure me and Shan rocked at that - our kid (Amanda) loved us, and she was super cool too. Shan was very excited because not only did Amanda like the color pink, but she liked NASCAR. And Shan is a huge NASCAR fan; moments earlier she was shouting for Jimmie Johnson to win the Daytona and the entire floor knew about it. (She was explaining the ways of NASCAR to me and Meaghan as we watched the beginning and end of it, as well.)
Meaghan also took random adventures with me before Amanda got here.... we took the bus to Alice's party on the day of all days for it to be cold enough to freeze one's nostrils.. but it was nice to see Alice, Chris, Ruby, etc again so it ended up being worth it. (We would have frozen to death if Alice didn't give us any additional "duds" for the ride back.) The morning after that we walked to Perkins.. our waiter gave us free orange juice.. :-P I introduced Meaghan to the "ways of Hamline" (in particular, the group, and especially Kevo because a world without Kevo is no world at all).
In addition to that aspect of Hamline, however, she also saw people coming back wasted out of their minds when we got home from Alice's party. I could tell she felt uncomfortable, so I told her to stick around my dorm room while I ended up taking care of Kevo, Sam, and KG for the majority of the night. I walked KG to the bathroom and held her hair back as she was puking, I made sure everyone knew where their designated trash bin was, and I made all of them drink water in order to get the "poison" out of their blood (that's what Kevo kept calling it; he also kept telling me that his liver was "fighting like a man," and we should call him Chuck Norris..) *sigh* They drank way too much. But I must say, I never thought I would be so helpful in such a situation. When it happens to you, you're incredibly thankful for all of the people that took care of you, and you can't believe that they were willing to do stuff like clean up your puke or stop you from passing out on the toilet..... it's only when you do this for someone else that you understand how it all works. You understand why it's okay to be there for them no matter what rather than get grossed out and leave. I finally understand how moms deal with the disgusting stuff their children do - Shan calls it our natural maternal instinct, where suddenly taking care of your friends is the only thing that makes sense. I was in The Man Room for a considerbly long period of time, making sure everyone was okay until they finally went to sleep with nothing left to puke up.... it felt wonderful. It reminded me of what they said when they helped me and Shannon a few months ago: you'd do it for us. And it's true. I just never believed one's willingness to help would accumulate to such an extent.
Needless to say, it was a pretty crazy weekend. Full of plenty of food and coffee (and caramel white hot chocolates for Meaghan :-P) and Comedy Sportz - and Kevo being one of the volunteers!! - but I had fun. It's going to be hard stepping into the reality of school tomorrow (even though I had a class today, but that hardly counts), with three relatively difficult classes to attend and homework to complete before then as well as work tonight....... but I'll do it, because that's just what I do. And it'll be a chaotic week, but oh well, this weekend was worth it. (I wrote that so I could remind myself later, when I'm freaking out with too much to do and very little time to do it in.)
I'm going to go find something to entertain myself with. It's not likely going to be homework, so I'm clearly already making smart choices for this week, but at least I'm acknowledging my bad decisions now rather than wondering what the hell happened by Thursday.