Thunderstruck.

This afternoon:

a) Paul called and wants me to be his date for a wedding this weekend in Connecticut.
b) Rus called and wants us to go out either tonight or tomorrow or both...
c) Janet called and wants to come up and visit this weekend
d) We had a fantastic thunderstorm. Alas, the power did not go out.
e) I realized something I had not expected to ever realize:

I MISS ISRAEL!

I miss digging, I miss the sunshine, I miss the laughter...I really really miss the people. The opportunity to be in Israel, to literally unearth history (some pretty unbelievable history, I might add), and to travel all over was amazing. However, my trip was undoubtedly defined by the people with whom I spent my time. I know I was given a few nicknames (beyond just "Kiiiirsten" and "Christine"), but I don't care...I would not have changed a thing about the ways in which my social time was allotted.

I left Israel not really thinking I would miss too much about it. I guess I needed to allow myself time to process it...Sure, it got hard sometimes to wake up at 4:30, and there were a couple of people who could've realllllly frustrated me if I'd allowed myself to feel that way, and I certainly don't ever want to see a piece of what Israelis call "schnitzel" again (it's not schnitzel, I know that for sure). But, despite the little frustrations, I miss Euchre and being in the barn; I miss singing like an idiot in the trench, I miss listening to "Indiana Jones" on the way to the site, I even miss being made fun of incessently for my laugh. I miss sitting around with a nicely chilled Tuborg and great music over at the Homans' place...I almost even miss King's Corner (but not Old Maid).

I love that I tend to make friends rather easily, but it's a double-edged sword to grow so attached so quickly, like I do. Now I feel like I can't possibly keep in touch with the people I would like to--at least not to the extent that I wish--but it does make me feel better that a good handful of people will be at SBL in November and I get to see Ben in September!!! Also, I've been trying to figure out when I might possibly go to New Orleans (I was actually serious about wanting to go there) and I found a roundtrip ticket for $142 on March 1...Granted, that's the day after Mardi Gras, but it's also my spring break! It leaves from Cincy, which is a 4 hour drive, but, being that Cincy is so close to Miami, there are about 1042 people I could see while there. So, we'll see what everyone else involved (or potentially involved) thinks about that plan.

Anyway, I better call Rus back, since I cut him off mid-conversation with another phone call.