“For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home.” ― Simon Van Booy

I do not feel lost at all, but what I do know is that there are cities that feel like home!  I feel at home in Birmingham (hometown), New York City, and Tuscaloosa.  There were many years that I never felt attached to Tuscaloosa; in fact, it was exactly the opposite.  I HATED Tuscaloosa; I would cry when I had to drive back to Tuscaloosa.  Now, as many of you know, I LOVE TUSCALOOSA!  Now, it is mostly due to the people in Tuscaloosa and my love for them.

Wednesday morning I headed to Tuscaloosa for a few days for the last time, at least for a while!  Wednesday was a good day!  My first stop was Stillman College to see the office of my beautiful, wonderful friend April!  She is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stillman College, and I am so proud of her. Her office is really nice and she has awesome artwork and things to make it feel comfortable.  I spent time with Mrs. Malissa and down at the Children's Program. I also went down to campus to visit with Barbara (one of my Italian professors).  We had a GREAT conversation and she gave me some information about traveling, about southern Italy, and more.  We talked about my time in Florence, and I just enjoyed being with her.  I got a quick hug from Gabriella (first Italian teacher), but she was on her way to class.  I feel so fortunate to have had AMAZING Italian professors who helped me fall in love with the language and culture.  Without their influence I would NOT be embarking on this adventure.  It was a regular day in Tuscaloosa, and there is something so comforting in the familiar! That night I went to dinner with Mrs. Malissa, April, and Ms. Hudson.  We went to DePalma's and had a WONDERFUL time!  We had good food (I branched out and got eggplant Parmesan, which I have had before), good wine, good conversation, many laughs, and Mrs. Malissa and Ms. Hudson gave me some fabulous and very thoughtful gifts.

 

Mrs. Malissa, Me, Ms. Hudson, & April

After dinner I went to Kelly's house to stay with her, Tony, and the girls!  I do not know if I can put into words how special this family is to me!  Not to mention, my Gracie and Sarah Mason are so extremely talented and every time they sing, they give me goosebumps!  They are two wonderful girls and I am going to miss them so much!  We did their interviews, they sang, we laughed, and then said goodnight.

Thursday was a good day! I got to see Maria (Dr. Hernandez-Reif...will try to only refer to her as Maria from here on out), and I was excited about that!  I spent time making my flat people for Italy.  One of my favorite parts of the day was spending time with Heather in the baby room, and then Heather and I went to NEWK'S for lunch.  It was so good to spend some time with her one-on-one!  We had a wonderful lunch and it made me realize just how much I am going to miss her!  Heather has taught me everything I know about working in the classroom with infants and much more!  I am so sad that I will not be here for her wedding, but I will be sending prayers and love from Italy!  Also, if someone wants to skype me from their iPhone while Heather walks down the aisle, I'll be forever grateful (and silent)!

After lunch I worked upstairs some and then I had to go tell Heather bye because she was going home that evening (Mobile).  I spent some time in the room with her (and thankfully was able to interview her), and then we had to do the inevitable.  These were my first tears, and it was hard to walk away from her!  After that I went upstairs and hung out with Mrs. Malissa, talk to Maria, did random things, and then headed to see April!  Brooke called and I was able to get her to meet me at April's house!  It was so good to see Brooke and hug her!  She gave me the sweetest gift of a photo album (that totally matches my other Italy albums)!  I miss my Brookie!

After Brookie left me, and April and I went inside from talking to sweet Matthew, we just hung out for a bit!  Some of my most precious memories with my friends (all of my friends) are when we are just sitting with each other and talking.  I am a quality time person and one-on-one time with my friends is the most special thing to me.  We made a Publix run for dinner and then had dinner with Mark before he went to work!  That night we spent a lot of time working on my flat people for Italy! I did okay with no crying, except for a brief moment after I got a voicemail from Erin and a text message from Maria; after the combination of these two things I had a mini meltdown moment.  I long for Erin to live closer to me so that we can see each other and not rely on voicemails to hear each others voices! 

Friday...the day I had been dreading.  April came in very early in the morning and just laid with me!  She wanted to go shopping, but seeing as how it was a little before 7 am, we had to rule that out! Neither one of us wanted to wear any of our clothes we owned...we wanted NEW ones.  However, April decided on a cute outfit and let me borrow a super cute shirt!  We ended up being a little matchy matchy twins, but we were too cute to care!  Mark was sweet enough to take some pictures of us before we each left the house.

My sweet \a

Loving on my April

My beautiful friend

After Mark took our picture, April took my picture with Mark, who has taught me so much and expanded my mind when it comes to movies, books, my vocabulary, etc. April and Mark are so special to me (and so perfect for each other and it is endearing to watch!)!!

April headed to work and I headed to the CDRC for my last day!  I worked on flat people, interviewed Jessy and spent some time with her!  It was Kelly's birthday, so I sat with Jessy as she made some posters and the others set up Kelly's office with presents, a cookie, and posters/cards!  Jessy loves the Lord and is living her life to please Him.Jessy and I had some great conversations both Friday morning and afternoon; love her!  I was also able to interview Dr. Tingle and spend some time talking to her!  I love that I have so many friends in the HDFS department, The Children's Program, and even downstairs in the CDR; it makes that building feel like another "home"!  The rest of my day was split between going upstairs and going downstairs spending time with people.  Meredith was so sweet to laminate my flat people for me and then I made my rounds of saying goodbye (see you later...much later) to all of my Children's Program people.  I did a great job of not crying!  Then I headed upstairs to cut out my flat people and sit with Mrs. Malissa.  As it drew closer to 4 o'clock I knew the inevitable goodbyes were coming, but I did really well!  I went downstairs to see Sarah Mason and Gracie, but brought them upstairs to see their flat people and then we went back downstairs!

Mrs. Malissa was so sweet to take our picture

We talked with Kelly for a bit and then started giving our hugs! I did really well until I was hugging Kelly and she told me not to cry...however, I could NOT hold it in anymore!  It was brief, but I just love my Avery girls so much!  Kelly has taught me so much and I value her advice/guidance, and my girls never fail to bring a smile to my face.  I eventually had to pull away because I knew Mrs. Malissa would be leaving soon!  I definitely cried.  Mrs. Malissa is a friend, other mother, counselor, and all around wonderful person! That was a hard goodbye!

Right around this time April got to the CDRC.  She sat with me for a bit while I waited to see Maria!  April had endured a long and stressful day, but was sweet enough to agree to letting me spend ooooonnne more evening with her and Mark (did I mention she is a fabulous friend?)!!  So, we saw Maria and then April left to go home and hang with Mark!

I sat with Maria for about two hours just talking!  We haven't seen much of each other the past few times I've been to Tuscaloosa because of our time schedules and the fact that she is the busiest woman I know! :)  Those were 2 much needed hours for me!  She is so easy to talk to and it is always nice to have people in your life (and I have quite a few) that you can talk to about anything.  I am forever grateful for her hugs, guidance, support, love, counsel, advice, encouragement, etc. etc. So once it was dark and we both needed to go, we wrapped it up and said bye.  Yes, I cried.  It was hard to leave knowing that once I left the building I wouldn't see her or any of my other loves for a long time (though I am sure it will fly by).

April grilled steaks and made baked potatoes for dinner.  We had yummy wine, laughed, talked, and I just enjoyed a wonderful evening with Mark and April.  April and I sat and talked/slept while watching tv, and it was a great end to my time in Tuscaloosa!  Our Saturday morning was loud due to a power blink resulting in what I believe to be a "stuck" doorbell!  Rather early, April left to go ride Brave Sir Robin and I drove to Birmingham to spend the day with my Aunt who came to see me!

Saturday evening I was able to go to the LOFT outlet with money my sweet Aunt gave me to buy a few "basics/necessities"...was also excited that they were having an "everything 40% off sale...PLUS I had an additional 20% off at the outlet if I used my LOFT card...PLUS, 3 out of the 4 things I bought were on sale...I'm pretty proud of my thrifty spending and getting some basics.  ALSO, those who know me well know that the fact that I bought two pair of jeans and LOVE them is a miracle (I tend to LOATHE jeans).

I am so grateful for my time in Tuscaloosa and I cannot say how much each person in that building who has loved on me, encouraged me, supported me, and just surrounded me with joy, mean to me.  God is so good to give you the people you need, want, and it is amazing to see how He uses them in my life!