So, my dear blog followers (who have probably given up, considering I’ve been done for about 2 months now), I have finally settled into Colorado and reflected on my year of service enough to write a wrap up. I cannot believe that it was less than a year ago that I was crying into my nachos because I was scared to leave (I knew I would have a good time, but sometimes you just can’t shake anxiety, and Q’doba can be so overwhelming). Its been much less than a year since I was put onto a team of wierdos with whom I eventually fell in love with. Of course any one of us could have not been a part of the team, but so it was that Gold 2 was made up of Alex, Andre, Anthony, Caleb, Ciara, Cormac, Emily, Lily, Mark, Miranda, and myself (and Katt deserves an honorable mention, because all of that tension really worked as a driving force for the rest of us to get closer). We morphed into this wonderful, hysterical, affectionate, simultaneously driven and lazy, generous, sometimes gluttonous, occasionally naughty, always open team that honestly could have moonlighted as a reality TV group.
What better way than to start the year than smushed into a van for 50 hours, setting the tone for lack of personal space and independence that would be hard to find for the next 9 months. But in that van ride we started to learn how to laugh with each other, how to deal with each other in tight spaces, and how to function as Gold 2. I came to depend on everyone, each personality offering a unique facet of friendship to help me get through the struggles of this crazy year. When I came out to Denver I was all by myself, my roommates wouldn’t move in for over 3 weeks, and the couple of people I knew were at other corners of town, I was desperately lonely for Gold 2. I now have roommates and have been able to fill my time with crazy Denver shenanigans, but I am still desperately lonely for my team. I want to share my dumb stories about how I was attacked by my bicycle and the time I had to spend the day in (spandex) bike shorts because I left my work clothes laying on the bed when I took off for work in the morning, but its hard when 10 people are spread across the globe (I’m afraid I can’t call Uganda to talk about how I was stung by a bee and have eaten nothing but burritos for a month). I want to be in the presence of Gold 2 again, and know what everyone is doing day to day, not just the major events of their lives. But I am having a lot of fun in Denver, and I am sure in time I will figure out how to maintain 10 great relationships without being heartbroken everyday by the distance between us all. I will always be nostalgic about the greatness of this last year, but I could not imagine a better, crazier way to spend a year than serving with Gold 2.
*And a note about service (considering that’s what the year was about): I learned that the best thing about service is the people. That’s very broad I know, but it is all about people. In good company you can enjoy any task (well, I don’t know if you ever enjoy sorting through rotten potatoes, but in good company you can laugh about it), and seeing people respond to what you are doing is the greatest reward of all.
