Love so immense

My boyfriend Aaron came home with me for spring break. We spent about one week in Santa Cruz before bargin back up to Cheney. In this short period of time i attempted to introduce Aaron to my close friends and my family. The person he seemed to leave the biggest impact on was the last person i expected, my moms boyfriends two year old daughter (my moms boyfriend lives with us so i consider her my sister, she pretty much is). We only spent a few days, out of the week we were here actually here, with her but that was all it took for her to fall in love with this man that has become a huge part of my life. I got home from Alaska, meeting his friends and family, a week ago today. I got home around 2 in the morning so Cali (the 2 year old) was stoked at the surprise awaiting her that morning. She came out of the room and saw me in the hallway, her eyes got huge along with her smile, then came a charge at me with arms as wide as they can get, accompanied by a screaming of "MISSY'S HOME!" the next words that came out of her mouth were "where's Aaron?". Throughout this past week she has pretended to talk on the phone with him for a good 20 minutes, she has stolen the phone from me and not let me talk to him, and long story short will not stop saying how much she loves him and how he is "her" aaron not my aaron. Somewhere around 3 or 4 days with Aaron a few months ago and she developed an immense amount of love for him. At that age, her love is so genuine and true, she has no filter so she'll tell you the truth about anything, the innocence is so inevitably present in her view on things. I think this speaks amazing things about the person Aaron is, Cali is at an age where she cant understand the type of person someone is by the way they look or talk or necessarily act, but she can sure as hell tell a kind soul when she meets one and she clings to that, that is her rubric for acceptance . There is no stereo typing or judging in her mind, there is something to say for a person who never has preconceived ideas, judgements or built up stereo types about other people. This is one of the big reasons i love being around kids, their innocence isnt found anywhere else(at least that i have experienced, besides maybe in pets). I guess my point is just that i am amazed by the love such a little person can display and the innocence they have.

Week 37 (or day 259)

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
— Annie Dillard
Exactly 37 weeks ago (or 259 days) I gave my family and friends a hug and said goodbye. Not the permanent type, just the "well, I'll see you later" type. My best friend dropped me off at the airport and I boarded a plane, scared to death, on my way to a place I had never been. A place I would spend the next 266 days of my life. To be honest, I was expecting it to suck....I am glad to say my expectations were stood up by one amazing freshman year of college.
It has been quite the experience to say the least.
Here is a brief-ish re-cap.

• My first meal was a microwaved cheeseburger and a pepsi because by the time i had calmed down enough to be able to eat, all the restaurants on campus (and stores) were closed so i found a high school football game and got dinner at the snack bar.
• My first friend's name was Chris....I can thank being from California (and living on the third floor of streeter) for the spark of that friendship.
• My first roommate was from Japan and she was psychotic (I moved out of the dorms after first quarter thanks to her)
• My first college relationship was an epic fail
  
• My first job up here was, well, interesting I guess. I reffed basketball...i was the only girl. Now i have two other jobs, one working for M.C. the other working for the school paper as a photographer. I love my job working for Mike, i haven't started the photography one yet but i am expecting to love it (little factoid about that job: My boyfriends ex-girlfriend is going to be my boss, but she is amazingly sweet so it'll be all good)
• I joined the ultimate Frisbee team (thanks to Chris) which was one of the best decisions of the year. The majority of my friends were made through Frisbee and I got to go all over the place just to play Frisbee. I also ended up moving into the Frisbee house winter quarter (after deciding i was over living with psycho). I have loved living in this house...for the most part.
• I have been with my boyfriend, Aaron, for almost 5 months now. Not to try and go all sappy on you but I have never met a more amazing man than him. I love him a lot. He is my best friend.
  
• This year has had it's share of downs as well, my German Shepherd, who is my baby...i love her with my whole heart and she is the best friend a person could ever hope for, got diagnosed with cancer and isn't expected to make it much longer. Cali (the other love of my life) turned two (which is a down because I couldn't be there for her birthday). I got Mono, bronchitis twice, over 8,000 dollars worth of surgery done to my mouth, broke my thumb, got a concussion, and dislocated my knee cap.
  
• I have skyped with Cali once a week every week since i got here. It's always a highlight of my week.
• I have made an amazing group of friends. Two of my closest friendships (besides Aaron) are with Mollie and LeAnna. LeAnna being one of my roommates. They are just the best, we've made a lot of good memories together. From the deep talks, to the parties, to randomly deciding one night that Cheney is dumb so we needed to go get a motel room for a night to get away.

Right now, this is all that is coming to mind. I miss California but Washington (besides the stupid bi polar weather) has been real good to me. It was a tough decision to up root my whole life and move to somewhere I had never been where I didn't know anyone but if I could go back in time, I would choose the same decision in a heart beat. I would not trade this life i have now for anything in the world.