there's no place like home.

since i've been back home in michigan, i've been thinking about what i call home, where i call home, and what home actually is. i view massachusetts as home now, but i also feel like michigan is home (both with my parents and in ypsilanti where i went to college). i'm sure i'll call california home after my time there, too.

however you define home, i feel like it's that place you miss when you're not there, the place you get warm fuzzies coming back to, the place where you feel you can be yourself. 

outback pizza in ludlow, vt.

let's see...the past 2 weeks have certainly been busy. the last week of my program in massachusetts was filled with many, many adventures. we all went up to a campground in vermont for a couple days to recreate. i spent most of the daylight hours hanging out on a beach by the lake. i also played some sand volleyball and a few board games. thanks to my friend heidi, i painted my toenails for the first time in 10 months. on the last night, we went out for pizza at a local place. the pizza was pretty great.

when we returned to hawley, we got to work sprucing up the place. pretty much our regular batch of chores set to overdrive. the place looked spectacular in the end...perhaps a little too clean. it was all leading up to the recognition ceremony on friday. what a strange day. we spent the morning getting everything ready. arranging food, arranging chairs, arranging flowers. friends and family started arriving, filling the chairs and benches, anxiously awaiting the ceremony. i managed not to cry during it which was quite an achievement. 

cabin 5! caleb, elysa and i. 

it was pretty powerful to see how much the 37 corps members achieved during our time. our director put together a fun slideshow, and we even had an impromptu performance of a song that a few folks wrote during one of the hitches. 

here's a link to the video: http://www.thesca.org/follow-me/leah.

the lone wolves perform "it only takes 4 people".

the afternoon was a bit disjointed...some folks left to be with family, some folks left to go out to town. i just hung around until i eventually went to town. we all ended up meeting up later and stormed a karaoke bar. it was quite fun.

saturday was the "official day of recognition" for our program director and program coordinator who are both leaving for other amazing life adventures. there were oodles of lawn games, dedications, gifts and hugs. it was pretty great! later on, we migrated to the charlemont inn for music and good company. something about the night and the music got to me and i started crying...and didn't stop for a while. oh man.

somewhere in new york.

sunday found me packing up my car and leaving. easier said than done. the packing part wasn't too bad. it was the leaving part that was. luckily a few other folks were leaving at the same time, so it wasn't too bad. i still cried a lot and held onto hugs longer than i have lately, but, eventually i had to leave. i took the scenic route to rochester, ny where i stayed with a friend from college. the drive was actually great. it was cloudy and rainy most of the time which matched my mood. i'm glad i took the scenic route. it was good to have a gradual transition from beautiful country roads to the highway.

i arrived sunday evening at my friend's place. we got some ice cream, played with her dog and caught up on life. the next day, i saw a friend i hadn't seen in over 3 years. we got some great greek food and wandered around town.

mural on a toy store in buffalo.

crazy rhino on the back of a truck.

my next stop was buffalo, ny to see another friend from school. once i got in, we headed over to a martini bar for happy hour. fun fun! then we got some mediterranean food (there was a theme to my food that day).

in the morning, i headed out to cross the border into canada! my first stop was niagara falls. i got a little lost getting there, but i figured if i just kept my eyes peeled for rushing water and throngs of tourists, i would find it. which i did!

niagara falls! canada side.

i didn't spend much time there because i still had a whole day of driving ahead of me. i only got lost a few times in canada, but soon enough, i found myself in parking lot traffic at the border crossing in port huron, mi. by the time i arrived in the detroit metro area, it was approaching rush hour time, so i had to jog around the suburbs to get back to ypsilanti. i almost had a panic attack on the highway, though, because not only was i on an 8 lane highway (a bit different from the windy 2 lane roads in MA), but it was rush hour, so there were cars on all sides of me rushing at 70 mph. ah! i made it to ypsi though : )

oh the water tower!

i had dinner with kayla potter who is headed down to st. louis for an americorps year of service. i also saw a few other friends before heading back home. my parents were still up when i got home which was nice. my dad kept wanted to help unpack my car, but i just wanted to sleep...

i've spent the past couple of days sitting at home by myself. it's been weird, but i knew it would be. i'm pretty much unpacked and started to pack for california. yesterday wasn't the best day in the world. i woke up to find that one of the cats had peed on my $200 sleeping bag. i tried to wash it out, but i ended up attacking it with fabreeze when i couldn't get the smell out. then i burned a couple pop tarts in the toaster, setting off 2 smoke alarms in the house. i decided at that point that i needed to get out of the house, so i took care of a bunch of errands and came home with some ice cream and a 6 pack of michigan beer. the guy behind me in line at the store commented that it was a great dinner.

today i'm feeling a lot more put together. i still haven't crossed many things off my to-do list, but it'll get there. i'm chopping off my hair tomorrow afternoon!! i can't wait. i'll be sure to post some photos...