Junebilee!

This June post is something that I have put off writing for quite a while. To be fair, since June hit, I’ve moved from Mississippi back to California, went on vacation in Lake Tahoe with my family, moved to Colorado, applied to about a zillion jobs and now have a gig at a coffee shop and volunteering on the side. I’ve been busy, yes, but I think this post is delayed for more reasons than that. I’m still putting off the inevitable processing of my year with AmeriCorps NCCC. Looking through my highlights from the month of June has made me realize how unbelievably different my life is now compared to then…and perhaps not different in the best way. I went from caring for the well-being and development of my team members every single day to working at a coffee shop and wanted terribly to do something good.

The End of an Era: AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps

The first eleven days of the month were the last eleven days of my year as a Team Leader. Our final transition was full of the normal van cleaning, debriefing, scrambled packing, unit meetings, and something extra special. This final transition was also full of graduation preparation. Speeches for outstanding Corps Members were written, ceiling tiles that will immortalize Class 20 FEMA Corps forever were created, and thoughtful reflections occurred all over campus.  The graduation banquet and graduation were beautiful. Darin, Sarah, Katie, and I rocked the National Anthem. And I couldn’t be more proud of my friend Erin for winning Team Leader of the Year.

As soon as graduation ended, the Team Leaders and campus staff herded nearly 200 people onto busses and into personal vehicles and campus was a ghost town within two hours of the celebration. As soon as the last Corps Members trickled off campus, [most of] the Team Leaders jumped hand-in-hand into the Southern Region AmeriCorps NCCC campus pool, screamed at the top of our lungs, and did our first Corps-Member-free Team Green cheer in 10 months.

The final days of AmeriCorps were spent cleaning and organizing campus, in New Orleans with the biggest and best group of friends I’ll ever have, at the drive-through daiquiri place with Sarah, Claire, and Amanda just the way we started the year, and at a bar doing a heck-of-a-lot of karaoke. Those final days were demanding…physically and emotionally…but I couldn’t imagine a better or more gratifying way to end this rough-around-the-edges year. Best people I know.

75 Miles before Graduation

I set a goal for myself back in mid-April. I wanted to run 75 miles before June 5, 2014 (AmeriCorps Graduation). I set it so that I would get out and about in springtime Washington, DC. I ran the National Mall on the regular…and I completed my goal on June 4, 2014. According to my dad, that is National Running Day! What a day to complete my goal!

Home Sweet Home

Immediately upon arriving home, I scoured through the entirety of my room. Two days after arriving home, I had a garage sale to try to get rid of all my things. Boy was that unsuccessful. It was fun though…

I visited my best friend Emma in San Diego where I was greeted with chalked hellos all over her driveway…

I watched my mom kill a bug in our new living room set up. It was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen…

I played Balderdash and Game of Things with my family a whole bunch of times…usually at Daniel’s suggestion…smart guy, that Daniel.

I saw two of my awesomely good friends, Bryanna and Allyson, and chatted for hours and hours and smiled and laughed and enjoyed seeing each other for the first time in months…

I crafted and painted my two button trees :)

Vacation in Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I watched so every single World Cup game, I bought my favorite ring ever, rode bikes to a handful of Tahoe beaches with my parents, and got the most incredible massage of my life. I relaxed more than I have in over a year and it was unbelievable.

Want to know what was even cooler than relaxing and spending time with my beloved parents? I got to see two Team Leaders after graduation, already :) Mike and Derek worked it out that they could stay in Tahoe with us for a few nights on their post-AmeriCorps road trip. We did a beginner rock-climbing class, went to happy hour at the resort, played tons of pool, went on a little cruise across Lake Tahoe, played Catch Phrase (and got yelled at by an old man for being too loud), and ate lots of tacos, pizza, and pancakes :)

The Simple Serendipities

This month was full of things that made me happy…even the sad endings, the stressful packing, and the anxiety of moving here—to Colorado. Everything that happened in June, every moment up until then, and everything since is the reason I’m happy here. This is hard. I cry, a lot. I wish things were different. But I’m in love and I’m happy and I know this is where I am supposed to be. June was just the beginning.