Sand, Sun and a Graduation

I'm finally back near a computer long enough to update this thing! It's been a great week, kinda crazy but fun. I spent last week (well, Tuesday to Friday) with my old college roomates. It's a unique relationship I have with those girls. Megan and I lived together all 4 years and we added Nessa 2 years into it when we finally moved out of the dorms. We had out ups and downs, there were fights, disagreements and the usual petty girl stuff, but in the end I think we weathered the storm well and now it seems we're almost closer than we were before. Don't get me wrong, amid the girl stuff, we had some hysterical times that have become some of my favorite college memories! In the last year we've all married and moved to seperate parts of the country which presents us with the challenge of staying in touch despite the miles. I realized after my four days with them that I do indeed miss college life and all the adventures with it, but I do not wish to return. That season of my life finally got some closure and it feels good to be in the next phase.
Now- onto our trip. We spent 2 days bumming around Charleston, SC. I realize that when I complain about MN heat, I forgot how pleasant it is without 100% constant humidity. Boy howdy is it hot down here. In staying with beach trip tradition, I got sunburned despite my best efforts. Besides the beach we visited the battery, looked out at Fort Sumter, ate seafood (shrimp, YUM) and just enjoyed walking around the 'old south'. I miss the south. People are constantly friendly. For example, we were walking along the battery (that's the waterfront with a different name in this historic civil war town) and a older couple just stopped to chat. Not only did we find that they are from parts of TN that we all know well, but they were also Christians with a lot of friends and relatives who are missionaries. They were great and it was so fun to talk with them. We had lots of encounters like that. Everyone we saw offered to take our picture, smiled on the street and met us with a friendly "hello". Have I mentioned, I miss the south!
Now we're back settled in TN with Jacob's family. His brother, Garret, has a degree from Auburn University as of yesterday. It was fun to go see Auburn since I'd heard so much about it! We also got to see everyone on his mom's side of the family Sunday night for a pre-graduation party. That was great because we usually only see them at Christmas.
So far, our TN adventure has been wonderful... and we still have 11 days left!