Monday, 27 August 2007

Don't forget your ribcage! And some extra breath!

I loved it this year-with Convocation in the afternoon, I was able to make it Engedi on my first Sunday moved back into Holland. I was thrilled with this prospect and it was good to return to my second church home when I'm not at my first church home. I'm not sure if I was being complimented when Pastor Brian put an arm around my shoulder and proclaimed, "Look what the cat dragged in," but I figured I was welcomed back between the bearhug I was also given from my pastor and the excited announcement from the stage (and congregation's excited response) that the Hope students had returned.

Convocation went really well for being the first time they tried it in the DeVos Fieldhouse. It was kinda cool to see all the new freshman process in together, sorta like they all processed out of their graduations and found their way in to Hope together. I'm encouraged to see the new freshmen from Ludington seem to be doing well. I'll be glad when Chapel Choir's ranks are back up to full strength, but we did pretty well for having only a very small amount of time to practice and a fair number of new singers having to learn "Elijah Rock" in that amount of time. Kudos to you new Chapel Choir folks! And hurray for seeing Trygve again-I've missed that guy. He rocks.

And then more people start arriving. Ross and I hung at Brumler out of the heat and only came out for the massive Bultmans' Backyard Barbecue, where more upperclassmen had begun to arrive, and more bearhugs. It's always hard to go to functions like that with friends because you always get sidetracked with people you haven't seen all summer and the yells of your name and "Oh my gosh!!!!!" and all that fun stuff.

It seemed to only get more intense as time wore on. Brandon finally arrived (YEEHA! I have another roommate!) and not too long after that, Ross and I gave Sara a great big hello in Brumler. Then we got rushed by a bunch of friends from Fairbanks Cottage looking for another Frisbee as I was trying to talk to Nik on the phone while spying on him and the large horde of people through my window (I'm going to love having a nice view). More bearhugs because I haven't seen Matt since May, Sara in maybe an hour, and Nik for, well, one week... oh well, I claim legitimate excuse on friends leaving for off-campus study programs.

It's even worse when you're with Brandon. This kid knows everybody, and I think we got stopped three times on the way to Columbia Apts. Once a house ate him (they literally pulled him inside), we were swarmed in front of another and sandwiched by former his Durfee friends who made sure to include me even though they didn't know me at all. I felt so special.

And it only got worse walking down 14th Street. The group of people only got bigger and bigger, there was a steady of stream of hellos and yes, MORE bearhugs, and the umpteenth retelling of, "How was your summer?"

Lesson? At Hope College, when you come back, make sure you have STRONG ribcage and plenty of patience to hear summer stories and to tell yours till you pass out, because you'll either turn blue repeating yourself or get squeezed to death by someone with strong arms.