Flashbacks: Last Day in PA, 7.31.2006

I wrote this three years ago tonight, right before I moved to Houston for what I *thought* would be a three month stay. Little did I know that three years later, I'd still be here with very little thought of returning...

When I was 18, and leaving Bethlehem to move to the Poconos, I made a big list in my journal of all the things I wasn't going to miss about Bethlehem/the Lehigh Valley/High school/etc. This time I'm going to change it up a bit, and make a list of all the things I will miss.

A Hundred Days of Screwing Around: The Best of Summer 2006 in the Poconos:
1. Tree, my kick-ass roommate. Who isn't allowing me to move, so I guess I'm really not going anywhere.
2. Jeremy, my other kick-ass roommate.
3. My kitties,
4. Hawking House and So You Think You Can Dance three nights a week, usually accompanied by food and/or intoxicating fun.
5. IM conversations with Tree.....when we're in the same room.
6. Late-night runs to the Acorn Market with Tree for DP and cigs.
7. Stopping at the Dunkin Donuts on 9th Street before work to get my Iced Latte Light and frosted doughnut.
8. Afternoons working at The Art Learning Center, with awesome co-workers and adorable kids.
9. Two words: DINER PHOTOGRAPHY.
10. Getting wrecked with Tree and taking an assortment of random cell phone/digital pictures.
11. Killing time at the Hughes Library between work and ballet class on Mondays and Thursdays.
12. Leaving my house at 4-something AM to catch rides to New York.
13. Chilling out in Central Park, taking pictures and writing short stories (okay, not the Poconos. But it's close.)
14. Ballet classes in 95-degree heat.
15. Choreographing in the living room.
16. Doing lunch at the Taco Bell by my house.
17. Mount Pocono UMC and all the awesome people therein.
18. SPIRIT MOVES (Donna Beth, Shawna, Becca, Elissa, Jeanine, plus Jeff, Christen, Rev. Snyder, Mr. Streng, and all the other ranodm people we worked with...they all count.)
19. Dancing outside in the puddles and/or rain.
20. Cruising around the Poconos in "Beshanta" (my Celia GTS) listening to my music at top volume.

This has been an amazing summer with amazing people. I will miss you all so much. And I could blather on about how the when God closes a door he smashes in a window or about starting a new life or something equally trite, but I'll sae the cliches (for once). I love you, I will miss you, I will never forget you.

See you in December.