Friday, April 27, 2012

Labyrinth round 2, affirmation circle and home

I know, crazy I'm posting twice in one week. Don't worry there's a reason behind this madness. I just drank some AMAZING coffee, De La Paz Coffee Roasters, Mission Blend. buh-ommbb. Quite a few of us were reflecting on our sadness to be leaving the quality of coffee in this beautiful city. I mean I cringe at the thought of the so called 'coffee' in the DC, I pray that I will not be subject to that.
In other news, I spent Friday night baking another Texas Sheet Cake, except this time I actually grasped the concept of why it's called a sheet cake, you bake it in a cookie sheet! whoa. hold up. Then I made blueberry muffins at Sheldon's begging, pleading request. Let's just say that I went to bed covered in flour and a mixture of baking powder. Mmm Mmm good.



Saturday, Kristyn, Rachel, Mandi and I went over to Lands End (again) and hiked the Sutro Bath ruins and the labyrinth. I was feeling the Presidio and possibly the bridge as well, however they were feeling food more.  It was a good 85 out. Yes you read that correctly, 85 in SF. We took the 1 down and cut through Chinatown to North Beach and went to this amazing Italian deli (like the little whole in the wall ones with meats hanging from the ceiling) to get sandwiches. Then we went to Washington Square Park (which definitely has the feel of Dolores Park, however a bit smaller and it lacks that oh so pleasant odor of weed drifting around).  Mandi and I left Kristyn and Rachel there and we went back to her apartment.
It's been so amazing to see how God places certain people in your life for a reason. I've barely known Mandi for 3 months, and now we're rooming together for part of the summer.  We've also found that we're alike in sooo many ways and the conversation just comes naturally. I love when God places people like this in my life, I become so overwhelmed by His goodness and blessings. It was surreal to hang out at her apartment and think that I'll be living there in just a few weeks.  With the warm weather outside, it already felt like summer and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I needed to go back to the house and do homework before work the next day.

Tonight, we had our final 'community worship'.  This turned into a time of many many laughs remembering our times together and quite a few tears as we think about the reality that is facing us very, very soon.  We all went around and talked about our favorite moments with each other.  It was truly a time to recognize how everyone fit into this house, into this family.  I can't imagine leaving, I can't imagine waking up and going down to the kitchen and not seeing David grinding his coffee, or hearing Vroselyn's laugh echoing through the house or Sheldon cooking some new concoction in the kitchen, or Maddie sitting behind her computer when I come through the door, or Katie scrubbing away at the stove and unloading the dishwasher, or Carter forgetting her key and ringing the doorbell, or Tia catapulting herself onto her bed every night, or Kristyn getting low in the kitchen to some ghetto music, or Rachel slowly walking downstairs minutes before class in her sweats and her hair going everywhere, or Natasha laughing from across the dining room table from me at work, not realizing that her music is blaring from her earphones. We've become so close.
I think about all of the change that's been taking place at Westmont and of everyone moving out very soon and I can't imagine having been there this semester. It just doesn't feel right. I found such a beautiful place here, and it's going to be painful to leave.

Home. I mentioned this in my last post, but I can't seem to get it out of my mind. It feels normal to be here, it feels right, it feels like home.  I love that everyday proposes a new adventure, a sense of mystery and excitement.  There are so many hidden aspects to this city it amazes me.  I love that there are so many different districts that offer something no other city can.  Separate they all have their own little quirks and local spots, but together they make up this city; they make it so unique.  I love that I can walk down one street and see 5 coffee shops, the next street a mob of people in front of large shopping centers, that I can pass by windows in Chinatown and see dead ducks hanging while hearing Russian from someone next to me; I love the sound that a Clipper card makes when being scanned on the bus, the small parks, the hiking trails, the huge buildings, the hills, the fact that cars have to park at a 90 degree angle in order not to roll down.  A longing, a loving, a passion stirs inside me for this city. I long to be a light, to be a voice, to be the salt. I long to pour out love in the simplest forms of a smile, a conversation and a granola bar. I can't escape this growing passion, it has captured my soul. I can't run from the faces I've seen, the people I've met, the stories I've heard. I want to be here, I want to be home.

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