There are usually two settings on a vacuum; one designated to the hard floor and another to the carpeted areas. This terribly uncomfortable rug always gives me trouble when having to chose which setting to apply in order to achieve maximum cleanliness. Yes, this rug is a form of carpet... but it is an extremely tough carpet. Soft, fluffy and warm are not words I would attribute to this rug. But, it is a rug. It is not composed of wood, tile or linoleum which is definitely "hard" flooring. I digress.
I sit here, in my living room, remembering. I look at the dog on my left that is called "puppy" but probably weighs more than my sister and I remember the summer just ten months ago. My beloved dog Basie had just died and it ripped me apart. I lost my cuddle buddy and best friend all at once. I was not the only one to suffer this great loss though, my other dog Satchmo, a german shepherd lab mix, had lost his cuddle buddy and best friend as well. He did not handle it in as dignified a manner as I. He resorted to constant wailing, chewing of household objects and forgetting all of the civilized training he had been taught. He needed a friend. So, "puppy" Quincy became the newest Stelle. She is a great dane-lab mix and has more than nonupled her size since we adopted her in August. She knows no boundaries when it comes to personal space.
My right side is occupied by our other dog Satchmo. He, unlike Quincy, understands the concept of a "personal bubble" and is respectful of it. I appreciate his thoughtfulness.
The next time I saw this "puppy"was three months later when I was fortunate enough to come home for Thanksgiving break. I had just finished my first three months as a college student and was completely in love with the life of the city folk. The amount of opportunities at my finger tips were endless and I was struggling to decide which ones to invest my time in. I had decided not to play on the North Park fastpitch team and therefore had the time that I never had in high school to do whatever the hell I wanted.
What to chose, what to chose.
I spent a great deal of time church hopping. I knew that finding a church to call home was of utmost importance if I wanted my faith to grow and be challenged in new and exciting ways. I tried a number of churches all of different ethnicity, denomination, and size. Much to my surprise I landed at a fairly small church called North Park Covenant Church. This church is not directly affiliated with North Park University, it is just in the same neighborhood of North Park, hence the name.
Upon coming to such a diverse city, I was greatly anticipating going to some crazy-ethnic church where call and response is the norm, multiple languages are spoken and white is the minority. NPCC is not that church. From the outside, you would see a very traditional, white church. It is beautiful in its architecture and awe inspiring with its stain class and tile work. The service is liturgical and the pastors wear albs.
Though its traditional and very european style of worship is quite different than the other areas of my life, I love it. They embrace me and have adopted me into their community. I have become involved with the children's ministry, been 'adopted' by an older couple as their honorary college child and become a regular attender of their 8:30am service. This service has about 15-20 attendees each Sunday. We meet in a small side chapel of the church and have a very intimate gathering. Their is one man on the piano that leads us in our hymns, the pastor talks in a friendly manor without a microphone and the prayers of the church consist of the personal prayer requests of the people in attendance. It feels similar to what I would assume a home church feels like.
The next time I was to see Quincy and Satchmo was for my much needed Christmas break. This break lasted a month and consisted of the reuniting old high school friendships, sleeping-- a lot, and spending quality time with my family of four as well as my extended family. By this time, I was officially half way done with my freshman year. I did well in all of my classes, made some great friends and began profound relationships with a few professors.
As the second semester began I was taking extraordinary classes, deepening the relationship with the two young girls I faithfully tutor every week, still attending my fantastic yet bizarre small group, and becoming increasingly involved with clubs on campus. My two favorite classes were without a doubt my courses titled Paul and Africana Studies. Paul was taught by my favorite professor Dr. Joel Willitts and was a detailed study on the life of the Apostle Paul, his writings and the culture of the Greco-Roman world. My Africana Studies class examined the history, sociology, art, politics and religion of Black culture. Paul reshaped my biblical perspectives and opinions where Africana reshaped my social and political perspectives.
The spring semester culminated in my team and I winning a debate where our argument was that "Paul would have supported monogamous homosexual relationships and would have supported gay marriage." For the first time in my life I was able to research enough on a subject to be able to form my own opinion rather than just regurgitating the opinion of a scholar or some other more read person than I. I was able to stand in front of a group of people and argue my perspective as well as what I believe Paul's perspective would have been with confidence and quite a bit of evidence to back myself up.
I really do love North Park. The professors take such a personal interest in you, it's really incredible. I had professors poor so much knowledge into my life both academically and spiritually this year. I had the opportunity to go out to coffee with each of my profs. While drinking our over-priced beverages we would talk for hours about the subject of the particular class I am taking by them, their personal passions and drives in their field, and my hopes and dreams that have been awakened as I become a more informed being. At the end of the year I so highly respect my professors as academics but also as friends. I really do love North Park because their faculty really does love me.
This rug on the other hand, does not. When I return to North Park in the fall I will be living in an apartment with three of my friends. I will be rooming with the infamous Tracy Moua and therefore will inevitably be in a constant war of dog vs. cat. I foresee a duct tape line down the center of our room with countless cat pictures on her side and pictures of Quincy and Satchmo on mine. Other than that small difference in taste, and her constant explanation of our other differences being "Kayla, that's just a white person thing", we really do get along. I am very much so looking forward to the next semester. For I will only live with them for a few months, the spring semester I will not be at North Park, I will be in Africa.
My mother jokingly said that if we drive to Chicago in the fall, I can have this rug. My apartment is completely hard wood floor... if I leave this rug in the living room here there will be no confusion as to what setting the vacuum will need to be on when I clean. I won't have to vacuum the apartment as often as my house needs to be vacuumed though, for in Chicago I do not have my dogs. Satchmo who does respect my space and Quincy who has slowly, but surely, managed to inch herself onto me until her entire grey and white splotchy body is completely on top of mine, will stay in the harbor where they belong.
Year one is over and it was fun.
How about a Haiku:
Lots of new big words
Friends who love cats way too much
Impecunious
Photo credit to Madison Stelle
