The new year is just hours away, so what better time than now to wrap up the last few weeks of the year?
This has been an incredibly busy but wonderful time.
Andrew has been over-loaded with overtime so I haven't gotten to spend as much time with him as I would have hoped. It's been a lot of girl time for me and Tessa.
The move into the new apartment was a good one. I had no idea we had as much stuff as we do until I tried packing it all. Not fun. But worth it now that we're in the new place. It's wonderful. It actually feels like a home. David (Andrew's brother) was a big help in addition to the movers since I'm essentially useless when it comes to that stuff. It worked well though because as stuff was brought in I was able to unpack it. Andrew's parents even came over and helped us get things settled. They really are too good to us. The only really un-fun part was going back to the old apartment so that I could clean it up. I spent a good 5 or 6 hours cleaning; my sister even came over and helped which was a nice surprise. Of course I had to bribe her, but if she hadn't taken the bait then I wouldn't have been able to get everything clean in time.
The Christmas decorating was enjoyable but not as fun as I had imagined it to be. I thought Andrew would get excited about it, but really all he did was take the tree out of the box and then sat down to watch TV while I decorated. At least the tree came out looking good! I even decorated cookies this year! Sam was a good sport about it, Andrew not so much. It was a lot of fun even though at the time we were ridiculously tired.
Christmas Eve was spent with Andrew's family. It was very intimate and relaxing. Christmas was spent with my family who tend to be louder and while not as relaxing definitely still fun. We played games and I LOVE games! In fact I got another one for Christmas that we ended up playing that night after a sort of spontaneous game night was planned. We went and saw Valkyrie that afternoon, and while not an uplifting film, it was definitely a well done one. World War II is fascinating to me, especially the Holocaust. I was obsessed with it when growing up so I had to see it. After watching clips of Hitler from real-life and then seeing Valkyrie I cannot for the life of me understand how a whole country followed Hitler. But after having a discussion with David about it he pointed out that it wasn't as though Hitler sprung out of nowhere, he had been rising up in politics since the '20s and '30s. He gave people someone to blame, to hate. I would like to think that should something like that happen again that people wouldn't follow so blindly, but I don't know, and that's scary. Do we ever really learn from our past, from past mistakes?
Sort of on that same topic, I got an email today from my dad, and then he called me about it. Let me begin with some background history. Erin lived across the street from me and she was the coolest person I had ever met. I met her right before I began 6th grade and for her 8th grade. She was so funny, so smart, so creative; so effortlessly cool. For those who were too wound up in who was dating who and what everyone was wearing they might not have seen the beauty in her, but I did. I worshiped her like a bigger and cooler sister. She's the one who got me interested in journalism in the first place. Fast forwarding a bit she graduated from high school and went on to college, to be precise the architectural school at Rice University. They only accept about 20 people into that school each year; just an indication of how talented she was. On the night of May 10th she went out to get some ice cream with friends in celebration of their first year of college. She never ended up making it home because on the drive she was struck by a drunk driver in a truck and killed instantly and severely injuring 3 passengers. On the morning of May 11th I was naively and happily enjoying myself at a NHS car wash when my mom pulled up in her car not looking too happy. I thought I had done something wrong, instead she was there to tell me something that would rip the veil of innocence from my eyes for forever. Erin and I didn't call each other and chat, she was at college, I was in high school. But that didn't matter. It never mattered. I could see her and it was as though no time had passed. I miss her. For most of the next year I was incredibly depressed, guilty for being alive when someone far more brilliant and wonderful than I was gone. I tended not to let others see that side of me but instead cried in my room, in my car where no one could see. It was easier when I knew that the man who killed Erin (a DWI repeat) was going to jail for 13 years.
The email I received today from my dad was an email that Erin's parents sent out letting people know that the man was up for parole earlier than they had been told. It's only been 6 years and they were asking us to send emails to the Parole Review Board to not let the man out early. I have until Saturday to compose my heart and thoughts into something intelligible. My heart aches right now and I have to wonder; did this man learn from his mistakes, his selfishness? I believe in forgiveness, I have to. If I can't forgive then how can I expect the Lord to forgive me? Regardless of forgiveness, this man has to pay for his mistake, and that means the full consequence. I miss Erin. The little bit of light she shined on me made me a better person, that I do know.
