:: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 ::

"The world has turned and left me here..." (Weezer)

I admit to being thoroughly daunted as to how I can update this. How exactly does one recapture a quite eventful year and a half? Well, here's a stab at it, at least:
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Last summer (2003, for all ye aging minds like mine) started out so dully that an unknown arachnid biting my finger caused mass consternation. By the way, never believe kindly middle-aged women who say, "Your dating and engagement time will just fly by!" It doesn't, not even in retrospect. When I'm middle-aged, I'll advise couples to elope. At any rate, the last three weeks before Le Wedding found me drowning under flower arrangements, involved in grand family drama, and spending the night in the ER with a close friend who attempted suicide. Marriage was an enormously happy ending to an alternately dry and emotional summer.

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My last year at LeTourneau was different than I expected. The Hubby and I decided to live off-campus and thus, in theory, be part of the venerated Real World. However, we discovered that this also meant [1] No more normal friendships with students in the dorms (2 levels of incompatibility: marriedness and off-campusness); [2] No normal friendships with married students on campus (the off-campus incompatibility factor is somehow stronger in the Fertile Flats); [3] No completely normal friendships with people off-campus due to me still being a university student. I had never before fully appreciated the value of seeing the same people every day in chapel, at Saga, in classes, at Solheim, in the dorms, at YAC events, and just walking around campus. If I could go back in time, I would try to enjoy more the earlier time I had at LeTourneau.

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On May 8, 2004, I graduated. On May 28, Daniel's high school students graduated. On May 29, we loaded all our possessions into a big yellow truck and drove to Maryland. On June 1, we put all our possessions in a friend's basement. On June 6, we left for Europe. [Europe requires an entry of its own; you'll just have to wait.] On July 25, we came back to Maryland. On July 31, we moved all our possessions from another big truck into our apartment here in Delaware.

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I've never lived this far north before. Did you know that people who live 15 minutes away in Philadelphia will say with complete seriousness, "I live 'up north' but you're in 'the south!'"? I know we're actually on the same latitude as Kansas, but it's a little disappointing to feel like I've moved to a different hemisphere from Texas and am still considered a southerner. The joys of Delaware include lack of sales tax and proximity to BIG cities. The anti-joys include the lack of environmental awareness (you have to pay if you want to recycle!) and the 100-acre landfill only 3 miles from our apartment (certain city council members are moving to expand it to 250 acres; I wish unhealth and unhappiness to them in the fullest).

That catches things up to now moderately well. Daniel is researching away as a doctorate student for the University of Delaware, and I'm sitting at home ignoring the last straggling boxes I should be unpacking.
Stay tuned...

Labels: Christmas Newsletter

:: Bethany Bassett - 3:25 PM :: + ::