Life, the Universe, and Everything Crazy

And now it's 2007. Happy new year, everyone!

Overall, 2006 was wonderful. Of course there were my trips south to Oklahoma and Illinois, and the Feast in CO, but even being home was great. It was another year full of change, and yet very different from the changes of 2005. Those changes were more about me. This year the changes were more visible - I no longer live in the town I grew up in, and after a lot of prayer and thought, I have a boyfriend.

I started 2006 planning. People quickly realize that I love planning and trying to organize things so that they work out for everybody. (Edit: what's really funny is that I'd written that already in the draft and a few days later Aaron commented on how I like planning.) Plans at that point were for my family's trip to Oklahoma and St. Louis, and with a little extra planning on my part, across the Illinois border to visit Ben's family. I really had a great time on that trip, whether I was in St. Louis, Illinois, or Oklahoma. 16 days is certainly a long time though. That was the longest I'd ever been away from home at one time. Generally my family tries to keep our vacations to just one Sunday away.

Right after Easter, we started tearing our house apart. That lasted months and was exhausting. We stayed at Daryl's house for awhile and when we first moved back into our house, there was no shower or bath. Our neighbours were kind enough to let us use theirs, but I really learned to appreciate having a shower in my own home.

From May to June I played soccer for what ended up being the last season with my team. Somewhere in there, my dad received the call to MN... which you know he later accepted.

I got to work at camp though. I'd wanted to work at camp forever before that. At the time, it was a bit overshadowed by the call and the Feast, but I had a great time at camp. I got to do things I love outside with kids who loved the attention they got. It was hard, and stressful (a little girl with a compulsive lying problem?), and sometimes I wanted to get away from the kids and just talk to the other counselors (missing real conversation), but I LOVED IT!!! Hugs from kids who love you, getting up at six in the morning for a chat with Sara, running around outside in the sun, canoeing, making up plays with the kids, swimming to your heart's content, being able to see the stars (even getting to sleep under them a few times), making crafts, watching a spectacular northern lights show. I love camp. It's a good thing Elisabeth, Evan, and Tarja were there to distract me when I had to leave or I would have cried the whole drive home.

I missed a week of camp for the Feast. That's how much I wanted to see my HT friends. ;) :-) And it was worth it. It's absolutely wonderful to hang out with great, fun, confessional Lutherans.

After I left camp, I had a month and a half left in SK. I packed. And packed. And in the middle of packing, Aaron became my boyfriend. :-)

One day we finished packing, and left SK. And then we spent another couple of months *un*packing.

You could say the past few months haven't been anything out of the ordinary. I do my schoolwork, I talk to my friends, I take walks with my sister, I play with my pets. But you could also say that *everything* about the past few months has been an adventure. I'm still getting used to everything here. After living someplace for more than 12 years, that kind of change makes you think about the things around you differently. I live on a lake! There are young people at my church! There's a state park two blocks from my house! There are people my age in town I've never met! I see my grandparents every few weeks! I'm getting to know my cousins again!

It's not perfect here, but it's still good. :-)

posted by Heidi @ 9:34 AM