Hashtag Excited

The last three days have been full of adventure, friendship, and singing to “This Girl is on Fire” by Alicia Keys. After madly studying for midterms, a two-day car ride forming new friendships full of laughter seemed to be the best medicine. We have a GREAT group of people full of love and joy and I cannot wait to serving alongside them!
The first day of travel, I was shunned to the “Dude Car”. I did not think that I would enjoy the eight-hour trip as they turned on the music styling of Blink 182. However, once they got bored of the boy band music and giving everyone walkie talkie nicknames, our conversations started to get interesting. The made up history lessons of different mountain ranges and creeks made me realize how much I enjoyed my banishment.
The second day started with breakfast at Wall Drug and a drive through the Badlands National Park. It was great to see the attractions of the Midwest! Saturday was a great day of building quality friendships with people that I would not have become friends with otherwise. After 12 hours of traveling, we were ready to get to our destination. Seven states and 6 lbs of gummy bears later, we arrived in Kansas City at the Xavier House (the house of living simply in community)
Today (Sunday) started with mass at the Cathedral. All the locals kept apologizing about the amount of snow on the ground; little did they know that we were familiar to the snowdrifts. After being welcomed into the community, we headed to the Kansas City Aquarium (apparently you need a child to get into Legoland and David and Mark don’t count). Still at my “wise adult age” of 21, the sharks and turtles were pretty awesome!
But in all seriousness, the last three days have been a blessing. Sharing quality time with truly joyous people makes me realize how great life can be. With all the stress that life has handed me, I have forgotten to enjoy the little things. These people have opened my eyes again. I can’t wait to start my immersion into the Kansas City culture in the morning! Hashtag excited!
Emma Priddy