Lome Sweet Lome

Moving is a odd thing. Migrating from one place to another is nearly a surrealistic experience because it feels as though you're simply on vacation or visiting a place; not actually replacing your address with another. Moreover, having a moving crew of coffee-crazed college students is a beautiful thing, making you only carry one box to reveal where your room is located and unpacking nine months of living material in about five minutes.

But for me, despite the days activities and move in, it still has yet to set in. Tonight will be my first night living on my own, along with my roommate and new good friend Brandon. Looking back at the overwhelming and long day, I have but two feelings:  happiness and sorrow. I'm excited to live the dorm life, eat food at the "caf", have a room smaller than a studio apartment, and live in a place on the beach that gets 300 days of sun per year instead of 30. On the other side, I've left home, friends and family, and a loving church family that was my own.

Before my family left their son at the end of the days festivities, my mother did what any mother would do: ball. My brother did what any younger sibling would do: ask when their leaving and if he can have my room. My father did something that caught a son off guard though: I received a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and he said, "Buddy, I love you, I'm gunna miss you, I'm very proud of you." These words will ring as the best of all of my orientation process. Words that mean something and leave one with more than just a though or a sentence lacking conjunctions, but a thought of a love shared in a family spoken from one to another.

Pretty soon things will start picking up here; class will start, then comes homework followed by studying along with midterms and finals. But for now, the GAP (Getting Acquainted/Awkward Party) and "speed meeting" at orientation suit me well. I assume I will grow accustomed to my new life but never forget for a second my Olympians. I already miss you so and it's been less than a week! Nevertheless, that's what Facebook and Skype are for.

Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (ESV)