I miss the speech life so much. Happy that the team is in capable hands of my duo partner from last year, though, and she's so good with the sophomores. Things aren't the same without her around and without us as a partnership with our two amazing coaches. We travelled to Kansas last June and made strides in our performances and overall work ethic.
Ugh, coming back to school today was just really bittersweet. My coaches dropped me off at my home last night and on the way there, they said, "We miss you," and said I should visit next month. I feel like I'm a bother returning over and over, but right now they're the closest thing I feel to having stable "father figures" in my life. People who don't get too emotionally distressed, talk to me like an adult, and freely joke with me. And they really listen. I've never been more inspired by two other people as I have been by them.
Classes start tomorrow--I guess I'll be putting the speech life on hold for another 6 months...one of these days I should come home to judge for one weekend. No shows, no work, just me, the team, a couple hundred kids, and a whole lot of time signals.