sunflower goodbyes

Tonight was our last night in Celina. I made a few rounds to say our good-byes...which I am terrible at! Bella went to see Abby L. and play for a while...I dreaded the pick up..I was more sad than I think she was!! Saying good bye to Honey was hard..she has been a great friend to me, someone I connected with as well, and I hated to say good bye to her...

Bella went to gymnastics camp with Abby O. and I ran by to get my cd of pictures from Holly, another wonderful person!! Then to grab Scotty's baseball trophy from Heather C...and had to say good bye...again..Then JB, Anthony and Gracie came over...another tearful good bye.....It felt like a day full of tears...every time I turned around, I was thinking of a memory we did make here, wondering about our future and what it holds...all with what felt like a rock in my throat..

I had seen these amazing fields of yellow the other night, and stopped off...they were these.....

There were millions...I am not kidding...they were like corn fields FULL!!!! In my life I have never seen anything like it!! So once I saw them..I knew I wanted to bring my girls there to take pics...so what better, I invited Lainey and her girls Emma and Abby O. to join us! We went at about 8:30, the sun was just setting, it was perfect! Except for the fact I am short, and these sunflowers were pretty tall, I had to stand on the inside of my car door, which made for a few blurry pics...I will spare you those!!

Bella and Brynne

 Emma and Abby

 Abby and B

Silly friends

 Brynne and Emma

 Soooo pretty....

We were out on a dirt road, and then the girls starting messing around, so we had them pose like Charlies Angels....Do you like that "smoke" effect...um that would be a dump truck driving by blowing dust our way....

So then it was the inevitable...the final good bye for the day, a very hard one at that...Lainey and I clicked...and she really has been my best friend here, I value our friendship...and I am going to miss her terribly...As hard as I tried not to cry, I did...A Lot....

As I sit and type this, when I am sure I should be packing something or at least be in bed...I am not. I am reflecting on our year here...how I hated the cold weather, the ice the snow, the whole 8* it was one day...the ice storm that held us up inside for 5 days....the 18lbs I gained.....toward the end of our time here, Scott traveling every week...the worry of how or what I was going to do when my kids had sporting events at the same time, late night baseball games, dance practice...and all the things I had to do when he was gone and I was alone...

Then I think of all the friends I have made here...the help they all offered to me when I needed them...The quiet peaceful warm nights, watching the sun go down, in the biggest sky ever...the crazy scary thunderstorms, when I thought the windows were going to break....My first double rainbow.....Driving in a place where people wave to you when they don't even know you....Going to Sonic for Happy Hour- love the Diet Cokes!! Having freedom and space to call our home....Kids playing carelessly outside....catching bugs and trying to keep them as pets....Football games and Cheer....Friday Night HS games (the only ones I actually ever went to, because when I was a kid, in California, that was where I said I was going and never did) Allowing extra time to chat, even when you didn't expect too....

While there are things I could have done without..I will forever remember this place I called home, as a place that has so much pride, it is bursting! A place where people care about people, they welcome you with open arms, they accept you for you, not what you drive or have or where you live..they don't care!!! Where they love God, and praise Him aloud, pray at football games, before school board meetings, have moments of silence start their school day.....

I have never felt so fortunate in my life, to have been here, and been a small part of a place that matters so much....

Thank You for blessing me, welcoming me, I will forever hold it near and dear to my heart.....