Uplifting, exhausting, emotional, euphoric, difficult, and so many more would be the words I would use to describe LINK 2019. When Mr. Etter asked the students to think of one adjective to describe this LINK, my mind started reeling with different words that could be used, but none of them seemed to be enough. Either they weren't strong enough adjectives or they just didn't have enough meaning to them, it was hard for me to think of something that could describe such an amazing week in just one word.
So instead of one, I picked a few. There is nothing more euphoric than rushing to hug your close friends that you haven't seen in a year or more. That huge rush of emotions that hits you once you remember 'oh right, they're real' is something that can never be fully put into words. As someone who has a hard time putting my feelings into actual sentences that make sense, this is quite difficult to me. I feel like no matter how long this post might be, none of it can ever add up to the experience that this trip was. I feel like difficult and emotional go hand in hand here. We all know that this school year in particular was the most difficult out of all of them, as it was said Friday night during the awards ceremony. There was so much loss and hurt this year that all of us experienced. Whether it was a teacher, a family friend, or even your own family, all of us were affected to some extent by the weight of these losses. This LINK was difficult because all of us had our hearts heavy with what felt like the weight of the world hanging onto them. But instead of having that burden alone, we shared it together. All of our tears shed were shed with each other instead of by ourselves. Our hugs were real and they had never felt more grounding than they did then. As a few of you know, my grandfather passed away in February. Those few weeks in particular were the hardest because I had never felt more alone than I did then. So to those of you who messaged me sending love and prayers, thank you. It has taken time and healing and even though there will always be a hole in my heart where my amazing Bumps had filled, you guys helped me close it up a little more. The last night after the dance I had the chance to sit and talk with Mr. Etter for about two hours. While half of those were him telling me to be quiet and that we wouldn't survive TGC3 together next year, we had some serious conversations. I got to thank him for the pizza that he sent to my family the week that my grandfather passed (which is still insane, I can't believe that they did that) and he replied to me saying that they had to do something for us, because they knew how that felt. During that conversation, I felt so uplifted. I haven't talked about my feelings towards my grandfathers passing much, and sharing some of how I felt with Mr. Etter felt so much more uplifting than I could have ever imagined. So thank you, Mr. Etter. You have no idea how much that two hour long conversation meant to me. To the rest of you. I won't name names, cause you all know who you are, but I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the shoulders to lean on when all I felt was exhaustion. Thank you for the laughter and games. (Some of them more chaotic than others), and thank you for the laughter and happiness that you gave me. I can't remember a time within the past year where I have felt happier and more surrounded by people that I love and that loved me than I did this week. You all mean the absolute world to me, and I thank God that we're blessed enough to have this opportunity. I am eternally, always, and forever in debt to you for how happy you made me during this time. We had our moments of hysteria (mostly caused by sleep deprivation and the annoying lack of oxygen), but even then we had each others back. Thank you for dancing with me and yelling the lyrics to the songs so loud that our voices were hoarse for hours afterwards. Thank you for the long walks and even longer talks. You guys made all of this worth it. There is so much more that I could say, but I'm still so overwhelmed by emotion from today that I feel like anything more to be said wouldn't make sense. I'm grateful for this education that we have and the amazing teachers we are blessed with. I'm grateful for the ability to share our burdens and our hurting hearts with each other. I'm grateful for all of you, so much more than you could ever know. So until next year, thank you for the best week I could have ever hoped for. I love you guys. <3
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Authordaughter of the king. dancer, lover of music, pretty pun-tastic. Archives
June 2019
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