F-in Girls

I'm not sure that I will ever have a living experience quite like I did this past year. I lived in an apartment complex wherein I knew literally every other of the 32 neighbors that I had, and most all of them had similar world-view to what I have. I could write a blog about the overall experience, about the dudes that I shared my life with, about any of it really, and perhaps there will be time to get to that in a later post, but I woke up this morning and I knew that I had to write about the girls next door, because I missed them so.

What did I miss-so much! I will miss so much. I will miss the way that they took care of me when I needed it (like this week after I sprained my ankle) even despite my own stubbornness at times. I will miss being on my computer, knowing that they will walk by my door smiling and stopping to say hi and see genuinely how my life is. I will miss the forgiveness, so much, the forgiveness of my crudeness, my rudeness, the things I say that should never be uttered that come from a heart still in process. They forgave me of all of that. I will miss Chloe singing 'We're never ever getting back together' fall quarter and 'Oceans' incessantly spring quarter. I will miss 9 times out of ten Amanda saying no to playing basketball, but I will especially miss the 1 time she did every so often, all of those threes that she made. I will miss Samri always checking in to see if I was making something sweet, always requesting cobbler and reaffirming that none were as good as mine, which they're not. I will miss Katie locked out of her apartment, sitting in ours like a lost puppy. I will miss Katie in the same boat, support raising, being able to talk about it so closely. I will miss the beach bbqs, the constant dinners, spurred on by a random suggestion I had one night while we were making pizzas one night that lead to an admittedly awkward dinner as we did not know each other that well then. I will miss prank wars, all done in god fun and loving spirits. But most of all I will miss growth. These are girls that I have known for four years and have not had real relationships with until this year. Girls I only really knew about until this year. Girls that have finally allowed me to have relationships with women my own age and be able to see Christ in it and be able to experience so much grace in it. It was awkward going into their apartment fall quarter, as everybody else poured in over the year prior, and I felt awkward the moment I took that first step. But we grew, as neighbors, as friends, as eternal beings, and now I can, confidently, securely, assuredly, proudly, thankfully, graciously, lovingly, call them sisters. I will miss those neighbors of mine and how we grew together. I am a man who struggles to feel Loved. For much of the case this year, that was not my reality. Much of that was due to four women; I now understand why they are so loved. Because they Love.