One More Cup of Coffee For The Road

Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas!

I apologize, it’s been over a month since I last posted. We’ve been going through some difficult changes out here, and it’s been hard to write in the middle of all of it. Two of my housemates, Siobhan and Adrienne, left the program last week and went home. The situations are unique and complicated and don’t really need to be broadcast all over the internet, but I’m willing to discuss them on a more individual basis if anyone wants to know more. So we've gone from six down to four. It has been a very difficult transition for us, and we’ve been wrestling with a lot of big and complicated emotions, but we’re going to be alright. The four of us intend to finish the year out strong!

Though the bad things have kind of taken over the last month, there have also been some wonderful times as well. Four weekends ago a few of us traveled to Boston and New York for the weekend. Being that Bridgeport is somewhere in between Boston and NYC, driving up to Boston and then back down (literally right through Bridgeport) into NYC was a bit silly, but it was a really wonderful weekend! We got into Boston late Friday night and stayed at some friends of Sophie and Hannah’s. They were really lovely people and it was really fun getting to meet them. Saturday morning I met up with a friend that I had in the area, Maddie. I met her my freshman year of college when our schools went on the same spring break trip to Tennessee. It was great to see her again and catch up! We got coffee and chatted for a while, and then hopped on the T and headed into the city!

Boston is gorgeous. All brick buildings and fall colors and perfection. We got to see Fenway Park (!!!!!) and Northeastern (Maddie’s) campus and the public gardens. It was really wonderful to just wonder around such a beautiful city. I met back up with Sophie, Hannah and their friends late Saturday afternoon, said good bye to Maddie and then headed out to see more of Boston. We found “Cheers”, which was pretty cool, wandered the city a bit more, enjoyed the Christmas lights and the general splendor of Boston, and then caught the T back to our car and headed out. Time to hit NYC!

We got into the City pretty late, but after all, New York is the city that never sleeps! We met up with some more of Hannah and Sophie’s college friends, more truly lovely people, and hung out with them for a long time. We spent the night in a Fordham dorm room with a few of Hannah’s friends. It was really neat to see their school and share that together.

The next morning (well…afternoon really…) Sophie took me to this really great, really cheep pizza place for lunch. It was so good! (Note: Mom, Dad and Jack – I’m taking you there in march! Be excited!). After lunch we walked through Central Park and found the Balto statue, a childhood dream fulfilled! We spent some time in the Met again, because the Met is a wonderful, magical place filled with happiness and joy (Parentals and Jack—we are also going here in March). Sophie’s roommate from college met us there and then after it closed we headed to her apartment for some tea. We met back up with Hannah later that evening and then walked to Grand Central (past just about every Broadway play worth seeing!!!) to catch a train back home. It was another whirlwind adventure, and a little bit mad, but we had a marvelous time!

Adrienne and I spent Thanksgiving in Avalon, NJ with Sophie’s family. We played on the beach (though this time it was too cold to swim!), watched all three parts of The Godfather with Sophie’s family, and just had a really wonderful, relaxing couple of days on the shore. I am so thankful for Sophie’s family, who welcomed us in so graciously. On Saturday we drove to Sophie’s families home 9just outside of Philly) and spent the night there. We took advantage of the wifi and got caught up on the new season of Doctor Who! We were pretty darn excited about that, let me tell you what. I also got to Skype with Mom, Dad and Jack, which was really wonderful! I can’t wait to see them—less than two weeks!!

This past weekend was really lovely. I went to a white elephant party with a group of people from the church I’ve been attending. It was a lot of fun, and it’s so nice to be invited into their community. I felt very welcomed. After the white elephant, we had a couple coworkers and other people that we’ve met over to our house. We played Apple’s to Apples (my very favorite game!) and listened to records. It was a really chill evening. On Saturday we had our various support people over for a fancy Christmas party. We served various appetizers (cheese and crackers, pita and hummus, spinach dip, frittata, mouse pie, salted caramel whiskey truffles, wine, etc), played Christmas albums on the record player and sat around chatting for hours. It was really, really lovely. After the party we put on our PJ’s, popped in and movie and piled on to the pull out for a nice “cuddle puddle”! I love these women so much. I am really, truly blessed.

We also put up our Christmas tree on Saturday, and we have some lights to put up on the house this week. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even if we don’t have the snow. Actually it’s raining, which I think is deeply wrong in December. So if any of you over in Minnesota want to send some of that beautiful snow our way, I’d appreciate it. J

Work has been picking up, which is really wonderful. Josh and I have Teen Achievers every Thursday, and we get a few kids for After School most days. I started a Young Women’s Society a few weeks ago that’s been picking up as well. We meet every Wednesday to do activities and discuss various topics. This week we’re baking Christmas cookies! Last week I launched a new Low Impact Aerobics class. We meet twice a week, and I’ve got a few women coming already, and I’m hoping the class continues to grow. The last few months of work have been slow and frustrating, but I think we’ve got things moving in the right direction, which is really exciting to see!

I hope everyone is doing well, and that you all have exciting plans for the Holidays. I’m very excited to head home for Christmas and see everyone (and play in the snow!). Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

God bless,

Aimee