Behind the Scenes: Back to School Update!

As I have had the first full week of classes, have re-started my job, and am drenched in homework, I wanted to take a quick break from work, school and gymnastics to post about what it has been like, moving into my first apartment with two other girls, being vice president of the gymnastics club, and moving away from Mom and Dad for the second time in my life.

The planned trip started off kind of… undecided. However, I did not panic. I figured God had everything under control, besides, I was very independent and I would get the job done just fine however, it would take a little bit longer than it would with help.

The day before the big move, I was coincidentally in the middle of writing my blog post about the joys of being single. I had turned off all cellular data on my phone since I had gone over on my data plan, but I felt that maybe I should check Facebook one last time. As soon as I turned on my cellular data, I got notifications from my friend, Ethan, whom I had asked to help me move in. I was expecting the message to say that there was no way that he could help, and that he was sorry. However, it was the complete opposite! He had even gotten other guys to help me move!

The summer of blessings was going to end with more blessings from these amazing young men. As about 2:45 hit, we were on the road and typically I turn up whatever song is playing and sing at the top of my lungs, but for once, I had someone there to talk to. So instead I turned the music down, so that it would be in the back ground and enjoyed a nice hour-long conversation.

Although my Dad and Jeremiah ended up getting off on the wrong exit, and we had to wait for a while for them to find Washtenaw Avenue and get back to Ypsilanti, the journey up there went very smoothly.

As I finally found the street, I accidently passed my driveway, ended up having to go in a circle, and went for a second try. As I came around the corner, I saw one of my roommates – and best friends – Katie, whom I had not seen all summer! As soon as I parked, I ran and gave her a hug. She gave me the information I needed to know about moving in, grabbed my keys from my landlord, moved the truck closer, and the boys got to work!

Not once did I hear any of the guys complain about the amount of stairs or how hot it was. Actually, they were singing worship music in the hallways as they were lifting heavy pieces, it was great to hear and great to experience. Three guys dropped what they were doing to help my Dad and I out, to make the move easier. Not many guys would do that, and without complaint, plus not many guys would be singing the whole time as well.

They also put my bed together, somewhat organized some boxes, and then when it was all done we sat down and talked. Before they left, I suggested that we pray. We prayed over my Dad’s back, and then they prayed over me. This apartment was completely blessed and prayed for before I even had my first night!

They all gave me hugs, and said their goodbyes, and that was it. I had a three-bedroom apartment to myself for the night, it was weird, but I spent my first night meeting up with some teammates at Tower Inn.

The days that followed were spent putting things together, and team poster making. It was really nice to have the team back together but for some reason something felt different, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that had changed. As I was walking back from Tower Inn once again, talking with Danny, I started to describe what had happened this summer. As I was talking, I realized that I was the thing that changed. I knew that I had changed, but I didn’t think I would actually feel different when I finally reached Ypsilanti again.

When I finished describing my summer in vague details, he nodded in understanding at my reasoning for breaking off our “talking” at the beginning of the summer. As I got back to my room, I thought about everything that had happened this summer, all the days that lead to me being here. The Becca that came back to Ypsilanti this August was not the same Becca that had left Ypsilanti and started heading home every weekend in April.

As the first day of classes came, so did the first day of practice, and everything eventually came with it’s own problems. I ended up switching my science credits, which were then in the way for my job, so I had to switch them again. My books were behind, so I was already getting behind in some of my classes, and when it came to gymnastics, I had seriously considered retiring, no matter how good it felt to flip once again.

I had gotten back in the gym the first day of classes, and I had literally lost the ability to do almost my whole bar routine. I was once again scared of up-rises, which I have had some major wipeouts on. I was no longer strong enough to set up for my release, let alone flexible enough to get my feet through, and my arms were so weak that I couldn’t even push myself against the bar to try and get the height to let go and catch it again. I was extremely frustrated and feeling unbelievably defeated. Along with being weak, and inflexible, came the long days of being sore, and gaining my strength back. Things hurt, which hindered my ability to try to get my skills back without pulling muscles, it seemed like weeks were passing, and I was getting no where.

Everyday I was in the gym; I spent an hour not working on gymnastics specifically. I would condition for a half hour and then stretch down in hopes of becoming more flexible. Slowly I started to see the results I wanted. My legs were getting more toned, my stomach was always in pain, and I could rarely move my arms past normal positions. It was great! Now about three weeks into school, I have about 90 percent of my bar routine back and about 75 percent of my strength back, but I’m not going to stop!

Another thing that came along with college was memorizing your schedule. Three out of the four days I have classes, I find that I am up before my alarm goes off at 8:01. This gives me time to eat, brush my teeth and do some homework before I go off to class. Every Tuesday and Thursday, without fail, I find myself laying in bed for a good ten minutes contemplating whether or not it would be harmful to myself if I skipped Literature class. I actually think this through, “I would get to sleep a little bit longer, I would have time to do more homework, and I might actually get to do my hair for once…” But somehow I am always up and eating breakfast by eight-thirty.

Wednesdays are my rough days. I wake up at 8:01 and drag myself out of bed, to get ready for a three-hour lab, for a general educations class that I could care less about. I am typically good at biology, but when I spend more time on biology than I do my major… I start to get frustrated. I go from lab, to my biology lecture, which is held in an auditorium, that is hot, and I can never read my professors handwriting. I’ll be honest, I find myself snap-chatting very often when I am in his class, also people seem to always want to text me between 12:30 and 1:45. After biology, I finally get to do some hands on work once again, and I drag all of my (Dave’s) supplies over to Roosevelt to take a class that is a potential double major, or my minor.

That leads me to my apparel class. My professor is awesome, and she explains many things very well. I understand what she is saying, but she shows three different seams at once and when I get back to my sewing machine I go blank and end up asking Dave or Rachel for help. I have found that it is a blessing to have them in class. It also gives us time to talk about the club, outside of club times, and gives me some people to talk to while I am trying to sew in straight lines. Dave has also come in handy on the one day when it was pouring rain. The apartment really isn’t that far from Roosevelt, but when you’re carrying paper and fabric, it might as well be miles for a walk. Dave came to my rescue and gave me a quick lift home. For that I am grateful!

Wednesdays, although busy, have also been nice because the three musketeers are reunited every Wednesday. Katie, Mason and I were close at the beginning of last year, and were the three honorary freshmen. We had dinner together after almost every practice, and became friends very quickly. Mason though, has decided this year, to only come to Wednesday night practices. So naturally, last Wednesday, we invited him over and we had a lot of fun just enjoying each other’s company, listening to potential floor music and cracking jokes every other minute.

Over the first couple of weeks, I have also been given the opportunity to live up the party life twice. I realized though the first time that although I had changed many times throughout this last year, that was the one thing that did not change. I hate partying. There is nothing more that needs to be said about it. I was the designated driver for a night when the team went out to a club, and on the way home I didn’t know how to get back, so I was getting directions from five extremely drunk, and extremely tired people. That was awful. They all thought that I hated them when we got back to Grace’s apartment, and I would have if it wasn’t for them apologizing a thousand times because they knew that they were being annoying. The following weekend, I experienced something similar when I went out with my two roommates Becca and Katie. By the end of our weekend together, instead of dancing to Taylor Swift’s new song, I curled up in a ball and fell asleep on the sofa until they were ready to leave. I was not a fan of drinking, smoking or the late night. I just wanted sleep. (Don’t get me wrong, I love those girls, but at that moment, all I wanted was sleep and I was uncomfortable in the party scene).

I have also found that all I have time for recently is homework. Creative writing or biology is what mostly takes up my time. Either I am working on an old story for class, and revising it or I’m reading a new poem and working on a new poem/story for the same class, or I am reading some sort of biology homework. It’s a never-ending cycle, and I constantly feel behind. In the midst of all the homework, there is the typical drama that happens in the apartment, in the gym and… anywhere really. I have found that when you’re in the middle of all that drama, it is really good to call a friend, take a step back and get their perspective on the situation.

Two Sunday’s ago, my sister called me and we talked for two hours about the events that were taking place in our separate lives and filling me in on what I was missing back home. She told me that my friend, Gela, had taken her in and invited her out to lunch with the group. She gave me so many details and we talked and talked and talked. It was nice. She has a childlike faith and it is awesome!

After that some things went down in the apartment and it seemed as though there was some tension. I told them that if I was mad at them, I would tell them straight up, “I’m mad at you and this is why.” But I never did, so my silence, and I taking a day or two to figure out how I felt about the situation confused Becca and Katie. After talking with my two best friends, my sister, mom and Gela, I felt a peace like never before, and suddenly the tension was over. It was also really cool because I told my sister what had happened. Instead of feeling defeated by the news that I had shared with her, she just texted me and said, “I’m not worried about it. God has a plan, and it doesn’t change anything!” Her faith is amazing!

I had also talked to Chloe about the situation that I had experienced between Becca, Katie and I. Since she was not in on the situation, she could look at it from a different perspective. She challenged me to get into the word more, and just fix my eyes on God. With that, all direction and wisdom would come. It was awesome talking to her; she is such a joy and encouragement in my life!

That also leads me to church. Last year, I had tried a group on campus called University Christian Fellowship. It is the Chi Alpha group on campus. While things were going down with Tyler last year, I found that it was not necessary to continue going to church, especially when I didn’t like being there anyway. So I stopped going to church while at school. (That is a huge part of my testimony… but I’ll get to that some other time!)

So this year, I was greatly encouraged to get back into the Chi Alpha group. So I did. I knew when I walked in that I would get some strange looks, I had been there before, but it had almost been a year since. As the services went on, I got a lot of “it’s good to have you back.” I also got reacquainted with Pastor Sarah, who is now expecting twins – yay! I also met some awesome people, and went to the cookout the first day. It really was a blessing, and it was good to be back with the ministry.

The last thing that I have to talk about is Work. Work work work work work. This last summer I spent long eight hour shifts carrying heavy loads of clothing, talking to strangers about nonsense, stabbing my fingers, constantly cutting myself and on my feet all day. I could say that it sucked, but I loved the people that I worked with, so I typically enjoyed my job. Although now I am back in Ypsi, it is back to smelly, sweaty kids, heavy kids and equipment and early Saturday mornings.

Today was the first day officially back. I had subbed on Monday, for a class I had no clue on where they were when it came to their skills. I didn’t even know the schedule, and the previous Friday, we had literally spent the whole day moving equipment from the YMCA to Adam’s elementary school. It was a long day, but today was the first day back at the Ypsi program. This time was different than last time though. The program takes place at an elementary school, so we keep our mats stacked in a closet and have to pull them out and set it up a half hour before classes start. However, this year they decided that they were going to move where we stored the mats. When we got back to the school, and started to pull out the mats, there were circles and squares of damp wet spaces.

Our mats were wet!

For anyone who does not know about gymnastics equipment, it is very expensive and is typically not supposed to be in a damp area. Our roll out floor had soaked up all the moisture and so had our panel mats, much longer in that closet, and they could have been ruined. Long story short, we got our original closet back.

The group of kids was pretty decent this session as well. Last session we were able to help the girls who were weakest, by pushing them, and they had improved so much! I’m hoping to do the same for these six groups that we have coming in! It was so good to be back, and to stretch with the kids, get reacquainted with them, tell of funny stories, and ask how their summers went. I have definitely missed my job, and missed my awesome coworker, and the staff at the school who consistently help us, (and give us juice and snacks on our early Saturday mornings). I know the program blesses the kids and I am so blessed to be able to be a part of it!

Besides the usual, that is most of what life has been like now that I have moved back. There have already been some ups and downs. Days when I definitely needed my friends there for me, and days when I needed my mom or sister more than anyone else in the world, but that is all a part of life!

There are a couple of things that I have come to accept or learn through this stage of my life:

1.) It may be a while before I can finally go grocery shopping without calling one of my parents to ask what a reasonable price is for a certain food.

2.) My room will always be a mess on days that I have class. It’s just a given. Books are everywhere, homework is everywhere, and so are gym, work and school cloths.

3.) Laundry is always avoidable… until you run out of cloths (but it adds to number two).

4.) Cooking dinner and lunch is always a hassle. Especially when you run out of something…

5.) The growing process in writing is extremely painful. My teacher is right about that.

6.) God has a plan, but people have free will.

7.) My printers’ wifi only works when I’m not in the same room as my printer.

8.) I’m never going to be happy with Once Upon A Time

9.) I’m never going to get ahead in homework.

10.) I like communication classes

11.) #KatieQuotes make my day.

12.) Wednesdays truly are “hump day” get past Wednesday and your week is going to be just fine!

13.) It’s hard not wearing your favorite leotard every week.

14.) Your relationships with your siblings and parents get stronger when you leave.

15.) God never stops working!

16.) It’s easy to shut off feelings, but not recommended.

17.) The apartment will always be cold in the mornings.

18.) Conditioning is now always necessary (whereas last year I avoided it often).

19.) People come and go in your life. Sometimes it’s for the best, often times, it may take a moment to step back and say, “not now.” When you are able to do that is when you start to grow.

20.) Above all, embrace the change! I hate change, but it’s always happening, and it’s not avoidable, so take advantage of it!

Here are some photos for some idea's of what's been happening!

Mason, Katie and I, at Tower Inn on Karaoke night. This years theme song? Love Shack… (No, the video will never be posted to Facebook if I have a say in it.)

The team at Fajita Fest!

Poster Board Making in my room with the team!

Spending Labor Day with the Lovely Schmitz Family (plus Lydia and Caleb)

Team Dinner after Fajita fest. This guy was awesome and gave me a ride. (He is still single ladies!)

Hanging Around with my best friend.

Our hands after the first practice #RAW

My time with my sister is always limited. She FaceTimed me for five seconds one day, before the wifi went out. All she told me was, "if you find someone following you, call the cops!" #Creepy #YpsiTheKlown?