Jun 19
… days to go! I don’t want to even say it out loud…
Posted by Elisa on Monday Jun 19, 2006 Under Updates
…seeing as I am down to the one digits, I thought it would be best not to bring up the number of days left. Call in denial…call it whatever!Well work finished up for me on Friday, yipee-ty doo dah! Is all I can say. No love loss here. With the exception of my handful of buddies whom I love and adore, and they pretty much know who they are. I shall miss them.
Friday evening was meant to be a quiet dinner with a few friends….Ha! Here I was taking my time from my farewell drinks with workmates and what awaits me when I get to Sherrod’s? About 50 million people yelling SURPRISE in her kitchen…okay okay, maybe 50 million is a bit of an exaggggg…but man the impact was like the noise came from that many people. HONEST! Needless to say I was a little surprised, despite the unintentional hints I was receiving throughout the week.
It had been a tough couple of weeks at work, and I was overly frustrated to the core. My last days there wasn’t much better either. The weekend previous was also my last week on team which brought on a whole pile of other emotions I wasn’t quite ready for. By Friday, even before I had reached the middle of the day, hours away from my freedom, I just wanted out of there, and I was crawling out of my skin…as Ashe can atest to. By the time Anne and I walked over to the pub, I was slowly unwinding…perhaps it was Anne’s calming presence…for which I am grateful for. The two of us had a few minutes to ourselves before everyone else started pouring in. The hours that followed were quite nice. As I looked around, with the exception of Hannah, most of the people that I was surrounded with, were the people who made an impact in my life, in their own way. People whom I confidently call my friends, there are only a handful, and perhaps unaware….but they have made my time at HC bearable. We were at the trusty OSP for a couple of hours, which was incredibly nice. Especially since Em came too…it was great to have her around again. At around 7ish I called it quits. C and I headed back to the office to grab oour stuff before parting ways at the front gate, him fully clothed in his biking gear…one last time.
As I SLOWLY made my way to Sherrod’s…I was just tired and ready to go to bed, my brain had lost all ability to function…therefore when I walked into Sher’s house and found loved ones in her front room (the ones I expected there) I just wanted to sit down and crash. Instead I was sent upstairs, so I trudged (is that even a word?) up the stairs moaning ungracefully to Ashe about my somewhat trying day, completely oblivious to what stood behind the closed kitchen door, which in all honesty with the hints I got would have been suspicious, but no no, self absorbtion seemed to work to my advantage at that point because as I walked in and they all screamed ‘SURPRISE’ I almost fainted. Well I screamed as a response first and then almost fainted. A lump formed in my throat and the room sort of closed in as my eyes landed on each and everyone in the room, plus those behind me. Everyone in the room, had at some point in my two years at London played an amazing part in my life…and continue to do so in their own way. A lot of hugging and ‘not crying’ was involved. It was awesome. I can’t begin to describe how I was feeling…in those first few moments everyone was explaining the weird behaviour and it all fell into place. Like the part where no one from Kids Church spoke to me on my last week on team. Nice!
The evening was overwhelming, in a great way. I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed for the friends that I have been positioned to have. For those that were there and those that couldn’t make it.
Special thanks to Ashe for the execution of the masterminding between her and Maz (thank you Maz). To Sher for offering her house and helping. Crystal for organising my present, which I apologise for ruining your original idea. You guys did extremely well in the lying ‘casually’ department.
To everyone else that was there, thank you so much. Your presence was appreciated more than you could ever know and it’s a memory that has been engraved in my heart forever. Leaving was always going to be hard, but regadless of that, I am at peace with leaving because you all helped me get here. To a place where I am confident to embrace what is ahead. For that, I will eternally be grateful to God for loving me so much with blessing me with you. For those that couldn’t be there, know that you were there in spirit, and my love and adoration extends to you too.
Enjoy! Love lots