Hugs all around from the girls, hopes that I will see them again soon. A few tears from the ones I wouldn't have expected, one last filling out of the lunch sheet, getting our paychecks, one last school lunch. I drank my little carton of white milk, ate my waffle graham crackers, simply appreciated being there. The rain dripped off the trees, mud puddles littered the yard, fog streamed over the mountains, mist hit my face. It wasn't a perfect day by any means.

But it was the end of something beautiful. The end of a job I learned to both love and hate. A bittersweet relationship. As we waved goodbye my heart was surprisingly full - call me sentimental, I'll take it. It's who I am.

I got school lunches all summer - who else get's that? I dealt with bruises, tears, break-ups among the kids and their girlfriends/boyfriends, questions about God. I jumped-roped. I yelled. I lost my temper. I laughed. I had a water gun fight. I hugged kids with hurt feelings. I walked kids to the pop machine so much I swear the bikes wore holes in the pavement. I got dirty. I ate granola bars for breakfast. I woke up every morning before six and started work at seven. I memorized the number for the school cafeteria from calling so much. I learned popular love songs. I was outside for six hours at a time each day. I learned that slime is apparently 'cool' and galaxy stuff is still a thing. I found out that five year olds have cell phones. I got invited to birthday parties. I ate hot dogs at least twice a week. I went to a public pool for the first time in forever and played marco polo.

It was a good summer...I know it's not over yet but a piece of it is. I can't believe I almost didn't apply for this job. I can't believe last year I didn't apply.
But maybe I wouldn't have been ready. God does everything for a purpose. I probably wouldn't have been ready for the stress, for the time-out sessions I had to put the kids in, constantly using the word 'no' in my vocabulary.
But this year I was ready and it was a beautiful mess. I didn't always confront situations like I should have...I probably let some things go I shouldn't have. But I'm thankful for the chance God gave me to go into my community this summer, for the laughs, for the good...and the bad.
You know, love is a mess...it's true. Love is messy, loving God doesn't mean that everything will be a breeze and that's true of this summer. I'm learning to be a young adult in a crazy world and loving each person as a child of God isn't easy. Sometimes you want to play favorites, sometimes you want to judge and make assumptions and sometimes you do and put your foot in your mouth.
But God works in it all. And you learn from it.

So as the summer has one more month really left, I'm taking in the last of it, clinging to the friendships I made over these last six weeks, listening to lots of Imagine Dragons and NeedToBreath, and going back to at least waiting until six thirty to get up. I'm going to eat breakfast and go see Dunkirk in theaters because it looks really good. Maybe I'll write a review too...
I plan on doing some photo shoots, going to see Disciple in concert, rent the Stars Wars movies and see what the fuss is all about, finish up I Love Lucy season 1, catch up on all those letters my pen pals sent me as well as e-mails to my e-pals. I want to bake cookies, go shopping and look for jeans, and have some editing done on my story...and oh! I want to blog more.

I've neglected this place a little and I miss Saved by Grace.

But ah, it's good to rest now. It's good to listen to the rain fall outside, to be in the air conditioning, to have water on hand, to be able to sit down, to be able to say, "it's done and no one died." So now I think I'll go and get ready to watch a rerun of America's Got Talent - I missed the last episode due to going to bed early over the week.

How has your summer been so far?