As many of you know, my cousin Katie suffered from a virus this past summer which paralyzed her from the shoulders down. We are so grateful that over these past seven months she is slowly but surely recovering and regaining movement in her body. Katie has been so incredibly brave, and has been sharing her testimony with so many people. Tomorrow, there will be a service at my church in Oak Lawn where she will share her testimony along with another girl who has suffered from a similar hardship. I wanted to be there for Katie, and I was asked to sing in the service, so I went home earlier today.
Daddy came by the apartment this morning to pick me up and take me home. My roommates were making homemade waffles, and invited him to stay and have some with us. It was fun to see my dad sit at our dining room table having breakfast with me and all of my roommates. Kailee is a law student, and loves to read the newspaper and talk politics—just like Dad. They got along really well while complaining about the same people in the government. They even exchanged e-mail addresses. I had to laugh at that a little bit.
I also got to see my best friend Megan tonight! We went to Panera and had so much fun catching up! I talked about my orientation and internship experiences, and she told me all about her student teaching. If there is one thing that I love about Megan (as if I could only choose one thing) it’s that it doesn’t matter how long we are apart or how long we’ve gone without any communication: whenever she and I are together it’s like we were never apart. I’ve missed my 3 hour conversations with her so much!
After dinner, Megan and I went to visit a few other Trinity friends that I haven’t seen in a while. It was really fun to spend time with them, though it was definitely different considering that I didn’t understand a lot of new-founded inside jokes. They needed to explain a lot of things to me. But I know that it will be the same way for them when they come to visit me in Chicago. It was really great getting to sit and laugh with them!
It’s strange feeling like I currently live in two different worlds. When I’m in Chicago, I find myself wondering what my friends back at Trinity are doing and wanting to talk to them. And now that I am here with them, I feel my mind drifting off to Uptown and thinking about my roommates and my friends there and wondering what they are up to. Part of me wishes that I could bring my two worlds together. But I guess that’s how you know that you have made real connections with people: when even though they are out of sight, they are not out of mind.
I am so grateful for all of my family and my friends, wherever they may be!
~ Julie ~
Hey Jules, thanks for coming out to sing at church this morning.What a beautiful song, sung beautifully, and the words were so appropriate. The truth, set to music. You were great, and you made it all of the way through until the very end before the inevitable happened. I didn't make it as far as you did. Love ya, baby. Unc.
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