Bittersweet

Goodbyes are never easy to handle, but "I've missed you's" are always delightfully received. The feeling of loss greeted with a pleasant smile and a warm embrace... bittersweet.

No matter how many times I leave home to go to my other home, I seem to get a tad sentimental. And as I'm sitting in the airport awaiting my constantly changing flight (-__-), I can't help but reminisce of my two and a half weeks away; and what an amazing two and a half weeks they have been. I can't begin to express my appreciation of my family and some of my dearest friends; I have been overly blessed this holiday season. My expectations and hopes of this vacation have been exceeded ten fold (and that might be why for the first time, I am genuinely sad to leave, but shhh... that stays between us).

A little recap is necessary but only because I want to brag a little ;)

First and foremost, my family went the entire Christmas Eve and Christmas Day withOUT arguing! :D It was an amazing blessing. We enjoyed each others company, laughed, joked, created memories that I will forever hold close to my heart.

I spent New Years exactly how I had initially intended, making a toast with some of my favorite people.

My "dates" with each family member went better than planned.

• Hiking through two and a half feet of snow with my brother and dog was extremely exhausting, but boy was it exhilarating and beautiful. Fresh powder that couldn't even be made into snowballs. It was a Winter Wonderland.
• A gun shop, a movie, a tea shop, lunch, and ice cream all with my beloved father... an adventure to say the least. I had such an amazing time with him.
• A sushi date with my precious momma, on her birthday of all days, and a movie to top it off. I felt so honored to be able to spend the day with her, just us two.
• Many other random outings throughout the two weeks that turned into memories of time shared.

A tea shop, excuse me, THE tea shop of tea shops. Celestial Seasonings Plant. The only one in the world. The air smelled like Lemon Zinger. It was beyond invigorating. I truly felt like I was a kid in a candy shop.

A few days away with my best friend. One of the things I love most about her is that I can literally do nothing but sit in a room with her, and I feel better about my life. She has this ability to make me feel like I am overly loved and valued by simply being in my presence, no words need to be exchanged. My time with her was at the least an extraordinarily beautiful reminder of what true friendship is all about.

I hate to bunch the rest of my close friends into one, but we are boarding soon and I am so not even close to being done with this post D; but the friends I was able to spend time with reminded me of who I was and the person I have become. It was amazing to say the least. Each of the times I spent with these friends was a time where I can look back on and smile with pride because each one of those people are incredible people, that I have the honor of knowing and growing so close to.

Last and most important, I was able to spend time with a friend I hold so close to my heart. He has stage four cancer and I was anxious (to say the least) to see him. I didn't know what he would look like or how I would respond to it all, but he looked amazing. My mom, who is a nurse, works with cancer patients, and she even said he looks really good! His recent pet scan showed that the chemo is working and the cancer isn't in as many places it was before! He is still working and staying active. It was the best gift I could have gotten this Christmas. 

I hate to cut this short, but I have officially missed my boarding time D;