all for you.

there's been times, i'm so confused,

down my road, they lead to you,

i just can't turn and walk away...

-sister hazel.

and it's back on my grind after a beautiful weekend at home - it seems as if these last few weeks have been slipping through my fingertips quicker than the finest sand on a beach somewhere beautiful (where i would gladly be right now sipping on a margarita and getting tan instead of huddled inside for the next two weeks studying). whether i like it or not, junior year is 5 days away from being over (classes-wise). soon enough, i'll be an old haggard woman living by herself in a shoe with too many children and no husband or something like that. (hopefully not)

things that happened this weekend that were wonderful include -

• alistar & thomas coming home with rebecca for the weekend to spend easter with our family - growing up with no (i repeat, no) first cousins and very limited family (now that both sets of grandparents have passed away) has given our holidays a limited amount of excitement. it was so nice to have a full house - and to be able to spend a little quality time with alistar and to finally meet thomas, who i have heard about for the past 3 years, but never met. my dad reveled in it all - the intellectual conversations, the gardening partners, the feeling of having other men in the house - to quote my mom's facebook chat earlier tonight - "OMG didn't dad totally love it?" n.b. - my mom is in fact over the age of 50 even though that selection from facebook chat makes her seem the ripe age of 13. there was also a beautiful moment in last night where rebecca, thomas, alistar, and i sat in the living room (with evan when he felt so-called to grace us with his presence) and just played music - thomas and i alternating on the guitar, alistar beating our some rhythms, rebecca harmonizing. i even got to show off my waltz moves to alistar. moments like those are irreplaceable.
• church this morning - easter church has always been one of my favorite services throughout the year - everyone dons their best spring clothes and there is just a feeling all about the church of life and renewal and growth and positivity. it was wonderful to see people like meredith and griffin, caroline, but also wonderful to see some of my favorite older couples in church like the lucks and the hutts. the sermon was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, the stained glass windows (that will be transported to our new church next week) were beautiful, everything was simply, beautiful.
• cook-out last night - last night, rebecca (stephenson, not my sister) hosted a cookout for all of our friends who were in town. we sat around, ate some delicious food (thanks to becca's beautiful and newly-discovered grilling skills), drank some beer, and played cornhole. there was something so very adult of us (even though we were in rebecca's parents' backyard) all sitting together and chatting about life - it's the moments like these that i'll treasure and miss when i get older and come home to franklin. it's just frankly a little scary to think that someday soon people just won't come home anymore, or if so, it'll be once a year at christmas, and not every break we get. we all got a little freaked out talking about summer plans, realizing that, for the first time in quite sometime, not many of us (if at all, any of us) would be here this summer. no monday night soccer games, no swims in jack's pool, no lazy days out at the river, things aren't necessarily getting worse, they're just slowly getting different.

so here's to the last week of classes - may you bless me with the motivation to get my work done ahead of time, the self-control to resist temptations like going out with friends and corona night, and the determination to get through it all alive.

happy spring -

xoxo.

krp.