November, What?!
It's obvious that I haven't updated in more than a month. With two weeks left, my internship is nearly over. It's amazing how fast time goes by, and it just reminds me to cherish every moment that I am here.
There have been a couple of reasons as to why I have not contributed to my blog, and I will share them with you. Late October, my uncle in California got really sick and admitted to the hospital, and there was even a point where his heart stopped for seven minutes. He is still in the hospital today, albeit much better than he was at the beginning, but we had to mentally prepare ourselves as a family. It was increasingly difficult because my uncle and grandparents live in California, my sister in Arizona, my parents in Texas, while I am in Florida. Hearing all of this go down so quickly over phone was a bit much to handle, and there were times where I definitely was not okay. However, I couldn't ask for a better support system here. My housemates, my intern director, everyone asked how I was and checked up on me, and they listened when I needed to talk. For that, I am eternally grateful.
On November 1st, we surprised my Mom for her birthday on the third, and Kelli and I flew to Texas on a Friday just so we could spend the weekend with her. She was totally caught off guard and we all spent the weekend together. It was bittersweet, considering the circumstances with my uncle, but we needed to be together to have the conversations that we had. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that family is always there for me, and I am there for them. Even when Kelli and I went back to our respective states and Mom went to California to be there with my grandparents and my uncle, I felt the sense of unity and love from across the country.
Things got a bit worse before they got better, and my uncle is stable now. We need all the prayers we can get.
If you haven’t seen my humongous album on Facebook, we were able to go to Disney World on the 16th of November, and that was amazing! We hit all four parks in fourteen hours, and the highlights were definitely the Mountain rides in Magic Kingdom (Space, Splash, Big Thunder), and meeting Merida! Merida is my favorite Disney Princess, and Brave always reminds me so much of my mom and I since we first saw it together in Theatres. We were able to stay to see the electric parade as well as the fireworks over Cinderella’s castle, and it was absolutely stunning. Spending the day with these girls at the most magical place on Earth was well worth it, and I am so glad I had this opportunity.
Another reason I haven’t updated is because today marks the last day of November, and November, if you didn’t know, is National Novel Writing Month. That has been eating up most of my spare time as I attempted to write 50,000 words in a single month. I am writing to you today, on the 30th of November, to let you know that I made it to 50,003 words and have officially completed NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. One of my housemates and good friends, Brandi, joined in with me this November, and having a buddy to write with is so key to motivation. The two of us have been playing Dance Central every day for exercise, and that has been great for both of us. You would be surprised at how much of a work out that is! With the exception of this last week, of course, because I just so happened to catch a terrible cold on Monday that knocked me out for the week.
Among the constant sleeping and resting in bed, I was able to participate in my first ever Thanksgiving away from home, and I couldn’t ask to have spent it with better people. My roommate and good friend, Andrea, had her family over while Jess (another housemate and good friend) had a guest as well. That made nine of us, and it was our Aussie housemate and good friend, Jessica, who experienced her very first American Thanksgiving. We had so much food and so much laughter. I had to take two naps throughout the day to get through it, but I was grateful that I could eat with everyone and watch the parade and even some football!
Thankfully, I am feeling much better, and the girls and I are hit with the realization that we are leaving soon. We are dreading saying goodbye to each other, saying goodbye to staff, and saying goodbye to Florida. You can bet that we will make these last couple of weeks count.
I promise to at least have one more update on this blog!