Every Changing Move

Today has been a nothing day - one of those days where you lose track of time and have nothing much to show for it. I'm feeling blah anyways because Olivia left this morning. I miss her already! I can't believe she won't be dancing into my room to talk anymore, or doing bad Paula Deen impressions with me, or calling me for dinner. I will always remember her big smiles, the way she dances when she's standing still, her stories about her mom complaining about "damn Yankee drivers", and the day we were surprised by two huge spiders. I didn't really get to know Olivia until my second week here (the first week was such a huge transition), and I wish we could have had more time together, but then I remembered that originally I wasn't going to come to CAP until August or September, and I would have missed her completely!

Other than seeing Olivia off, the only thing I did today was go to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Vernon (right next door to my office). It was definitely different from CTK or Brescia. First of all, there were only like 35 people there! And several were visitors! (Renfro Valley is in full swing this hot and humid weekend). The priest was a pretty good homilist (not quite as good as Fr Larry though!), but the singing was so awkward. They used a CD and just sang along to a strange sounding praise-and-worship guy. Just not what I'm used to at all... and they sang different songs that I'd never heard (isn't it funny about things like that? They use the exact same hymn book as every other Catholic church I've been to and yet I've never heard these songs!) so I couldn't really sing along anyway. I think I'll try Berea's Catholic church next weekend (same priest does ALL the Masses in this area, so it's a good thing I like his style!)

After Mass a few people came up to me to talk. This one family was just visiting (on their way to Lake Cumberland), but the parents were both former long-term volunteers and the husband actually had my job! So it was cool to talk to them. They kept asking if so-and-so still worked at CAP and which houses were in use and the like. They told me they met through CAP and I was tempted to tell them that the only boy living in the valley currently is retired! haha. The husband was sooo excited to talk to me about CAP. I think he really misses it. At one point he looked at his wife and was like "Maybe we can stop by and see so-and-so." The wife pointed out that they had to leave on Sunday and no one would be in the office during the weekend. I said (half-jokingly, half-not) that they could come by the volunteer house because we were "just hanging out". The husband got a nostalgic look in his eye, smiled and almost sighed, saying, "Yeah, just hanging around, playing cards..." and I knew he was remembering all the good times he had as a volunteer and the friends he had made. I hope I can be as lucky! The wife started to tell me that "Kentucky gets in your blood" and you don't want to leave and always want to come back, but then she interrupted herself and said, "But, of course, you're a Kentuckian, so you know all that!" I don't have a clear view on it, since I've only ever lived in Kentucky, and I don't know if everyone feels this way about their home state, but there does seem to be something about Kentucky that keeps pulling people back.

So my first housemate is gone. As she fights the gravitational pull of Kentucky so she can return to her studies, I prepare for this lifestyle of fluctuating housemates. We are gaining a new long-termer next Sunday (as well as losing another short-termer). In the words of a song I've recently discovered and fallen in love with, "I'll follow you and every changing move" - the "you" of course in this situation being God!