Halfway through May

Well, shoot. I can’t believe I let three weeks go by without posting a new blog. There have certainly been some major events I need to document. Let’s get to ’em starting with…

Church!

My ward got divided on April 22^nd. The transition has been a bit of a challenge. Very close friends of mine were moved into a new ward. Luckily we still meet in the same building every Sunday (their ward meets at 12, my ward meets at 1:30) and we get to see each other here and there. The part I love most about the ward division is the continued unity I’ve seen over the past three weeks. There is no hard and fast line boundary line dividing us – we meander in and out of each other’s activities, classes and meetings. It seems we’d rather attend extra hours of church to be together than let our friendships fade. Last night my ward was still playing volleyball for Family Home Evening when the other ward’s FHE had already wrapped. It was awesome to see a bunch of my friends in the other ward hop into the back of my friend’s truck to talk and watch the rest of the game. Everyone just seemed so happy. I hope they are as happy as I am despite all the recent shake-ups.

Friends!

April had a few more bombshells up its sleeve. I was greatly relieved to see that my friends Chloe and Romy barely made the ward boundary cut. The only catch was that Chloe was already in the process of moving to South P-town. Sneaky, sneaky! She only lives 15 minutes away but life just isn’t the same without seeing her every Sunday at church. (Seriously, though, I have learned to support my friends in their desires for bigger and better things. There’s no time to feel sorry for myself when I have so many people to cheer on.) On top of that I heard the great news that my friend Malcolm will be taking an internship in DC this fall semester. He’ll likely leave town the week after my friend Romy gets married and moves to San Jose. Again, I’m happy for my friends but this is a lot of transition! If all that weren’t enough I was already looking down the barrel at my friend Eva’s imminent move to DC. (She left P-town this morning.) That’s right folks, the next stop on the P-town train is Washington, D.C.! Thank goodness my friend Jane already lives there. Now I’ll have three reasons to visit.

Cleaning!

The great P-town Exodus of 2012 is well underway. My roommate, Lola, moved out on April 30^th and headed to Atlanta for a quick school break before taking a summer internship in New York City. In anticipation of my new roommate moving in I grabbed my spring cleaning goal by the horns and spent the first week of May getting rid of “half the stuff in my apartment.” (Well, it was probably only 20% but it certainly felt like 50%.) I spent 2-3 hours each night searching for and destroying clutter. I combed over every closet, drawer, shelf and cabinet I have. I took at least six full garbage bags down to the dumpster and two garbage bags full of recycling in to work (we have a recycling program at work but not at my apartment complex). I gave away a ton of clothes to my friends and I took and entire carload of stuff to Deseret Industries. When my floors were finally clear of all of the piles of discarded items I ran around in circles just for the fun of it. As a special reward to myself I got my car detailed and felt more spic and span than ever.

Cycling!

The strangest thing that happened during my cleaning craze was my sudden urge to pull my bike out for a quick spin. (The first one of the year!) Let’s remember that when I bought my bicycle last July I was completely terrified to ride it. I spent the remainder of the summer trying to convince myself I could ride it without crashing needlessly. I had a goal of riding it once a week and somehow at the end of the summer that goal got away from me. Before I knew it the temperatures dropped and I was concerned my hands would be too cold to properly operate the brakes. (I didn’t want to spend additional money on winter riding gear since the whole bike experience had been so touch-and-go from the beginning.) As winter passed and my bike stayed in storage I worried about forgetting all of the technique I had picked up during last year's practice rides. How would I ever have the guts to get on the bike after an eight month hiatus? Lo and behold I pulled the bike out of my storage shed, got set, got ready, and went! Sure, I only went in a circle through the parking lot, onto the road, and back to my storage unit but STILL – it was easy and it was fun. The revelation that riding a bike really is “like riding a bike” has echoed in my head during my dread-free rides since then.

In summary…

My ward changed, a lot of my friends are moving, I got rid of my stuff like I said I would, I have a new roommate, and I’m back on my bike. (I’m even planning to ride my bike to work this week.) Although change can be traumatizing I hope to embrace every last transition gracefully. May is already halfway over and there’s no telling what surprises are still in store. I just hope they’re good ones!

Oh, hey, what's that I hear? Scarlett and Parley are engaged? Sounds like this is going to be a great summer!