ripping a bandaid off

so, there are different ideas about which is more painful--pulling a bandaid off slowly (prolonged pain but not stinging pain) or ripping it off all at once (experience all pain quickly but then done). i got to say goodbyes both ways this weekend and i prefer the ripping. the gateway class was completed on saturday at lunch and amy, annette and i jumped in the car at 1:30 to get amy to the airport for her flight. since we still had to clean a bit for dorm checkout and pack a bit in the car, the goodbyes were very short. also, almost everyone will be on ship by the first week of october so we knew the goodbyes were short term. due to some unforeseen circumstances, i ended up back on the base on monday to drop annette off at the tyler airport and bring the farrell fam (and sam) back to dallas. these was a harder goodbyes--annette and i were together basically from saturday lunch until monday morning and the goodbye is for a longer time. and i spent hours with the farrells until it was time for them to go thru security and i won't be seeing them again right away since they still don't have a room assigned on ship. said bye also to sam who remarked that we have said goodbye a lot in the last few days (hopefully i will have one more chance to see him before he and i leave dallas). these goodbyes were harder.


i still have a few more gateway posts (will try to finish off this week--still introducing some friends and also about the water safety exam) but for now, i'm "smarting" a bit from goodbyes so i will just tell you about the four girls in my photo who just got names last time (and the family since sarah was one of the just names)...


this is the farrell family (mom-sarah, dad-tommy, tom in sarah's lap and joshua in tommy's lap) even now i can hear joshua saying "mummy"....he is by far my favorite british boy (no offense tommy and sam and tom) and running up for a cuddle. i can also hear tom saying "miriam, over here, miriam" he had a serious boy crush on her. he was a lot of fun as well, always wanting everyone to come over to "his house". tommy gave me a much different perspective on clapping =) and was such fun. his wife sarah has such a sweet heart. she was quiet unless she was in a smaller group but had a great laugh and smile. i hope they end up on the ship soon b/c i'm going to miss them!




in this photo is sam (the nanny) and myself along with miriam (between sam and i) and amy (on sam's right).
sam already got his compliments but i will add one other, his heart is full of others, he is always thinking of others, giving to others, seriously one of the kindest men i know.

miriam has a great sense of humor, she was able to take a not well thought out comment with a good nature and then turned it around quite hilariously a few minutes later. (remember the ride in the boot?) and she is great at not speaking when maybe something shouldn't be spoken! and generally just great to be around.

amy is the youngest of our group that spent the most time together but she was very mature. i really couldn't see the age difference that often (maybe that means i'm immature!) she was also very sensitive to seeing what was going on with others and checking on them. and she mentioned something about a "de-gnoming" party on ship?!?!??!



and this is carmen (the other name only)...she was one of my roommates and she and tayler were hilarious togther. she also had great thoughtful responses in our lecture times