Part 3: Living in ----

July 27th we arrived. We had to stay at my aunt and uncle's house about 15 minutes away, because it turned out the owners of our new house couldn't close until the following Monday (unlike Friday like we'd originally thought). We arrived around midnight and I took a shower right away and then caught up my journal writing. I wasn't tired, particuarly, not physically sleepy anyway; I'd gotten sleep in the car. (By the way, I only know these dates I've mentioned because I do keep a journal.)
Turns out I found something to love in ---- right away: my cousins. My aunt and uncle have 3 children and I adore them. And they adore me. And I am going to be able to see them quite a bit now! And hopefully babysit them because did I mention I adore them?? Yeah.
Also, July 29th I was able to see my bestest friend in the world.
Okay, so I found things to like in ---- right away. But Sunday I found myself hating it. Our new congregation is fairly small, with a youth group even smaller than our last one had been. The oldest girl besides myself and my next youngest sister is 2 years my junior, and after that the oldest (besides my other sister) is 2 years HER junior. Besides that, they were not the most welcoming of groups. They had their own friends that caused them to deem it unnecessary to talk to the 3 new girls.
Now, this is not necessarily unusual for a new group of people. It just takes time, right? Just some time, and then we'll be friends. But here's the thing. It took me so long in our last area to become friends with and part of the group of girls there. I don't make friends easily and there were a lot of differences to overcome. It was only in the last 2-4 years of living there that I really felt like I belonged. And then to tear me away and put me with these new, young, not-very-welcoming girls? Not a promising scenario for making friends. I'm far too...shy? Not quite. But you know what I mean? Especially because I plan to move out to go to college in a year or less. That's not enough time to make friends, and definitely not enough time to make it worth the effort.
Anyway, worry not, I found something to love the very next day.
My aunt was telling us about a homeschooling family that lives next door to her. Actually, she informed me that she was arranging my marriage to their oldest son who is close to my age. She also told my mom that she'd like their mom; they were similar. Well, she was right (about the latter :D).
We went over to meet them on Monday, and our families clicked almost immediately. Well, a lot of homeschooling families do, and ours definitely did. I found that the eldest son and I do have a lot in common, including an interest in writing and acting in plays (I would say directing too but this last play made me swear off directing forever), photography, and graphic design.
Oh, and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Yes, ladies, he and I share a favorite book (at least P&P is close to the top enough that I say it's my favorite when asked). In fact, he wrote (adapted), directed, and and played Mr. Darcy in a stage production of Pride and Prejudice. Which I knew previously thanks to my aunt, and that sounded awfully intimidating to think that someone could do that, but then when I heard how much time he had, the budget he had, and the help he had it was far less intimidating because I knew I could have done it in his situation too (not play Mr. Darcy, obviously, what nonsense). So there you go, ladies, such a man exists. And you can have him, too, I get the feeling we're going to be friends, but I highly doubt anything more than that.
They have a girl a couple of years my junior, too, who has a marvellous taste in books. The meaning of which I need not explain to such an audience as my blog readers, therefore I stop myself.
They get all the homeschooling things, too, like how homeschool moms can talk AND talk, AND talk, and then say it's time to go, get up and move towards the door, stop, talk some more AND some more, then move to the door, talk some more, and then either tear apart or move to the car and talk some more. In fact, when discussing that thing (as our moms demonstrated obliviously) we kept interrupting each other, and saying "yes exactly!!" and such; we all got each other quite well.
I am quite happy about knowing this family, it was quite a relief to meet people who immediately became friends. And they live only 15 minutes away and we shall see each other fairly often!
That was only yesterday, so I am now caught up.
Now for a teeny summary of the future. I'm taking (at least) a semester off school, because it was too late to apply for fall semester at any colleges and I didn't want to jump into that right away. I plan to get a job (we've got a lot of options close by in this area!) and I also plan to have time for things like reading, sewing, music, and blogging! Things that have been tragically neglected in the past few months. So, ladies, though I promise nothing I have high hopes for being able to keep up with blogging.
That's all for now! 3 posts to make up for a lack, and I'll see what I can do about getting caught up on reading! We don't actually have WiFi at our house yet so I've been typing this up offline, which is doable but reading blogs isn't possible offline so it may be longer before I get back to that.
It's good to be back, ladies! I've missed you! I'll try to come back for real!