Zeitah.

I really need to stop looking at pictures from Israel.

Why? Because it makes me miss being there SO much.

I am fairly certain that, as of now, I have kept in touch with more people than anyone else who participated this season. But life moves on, so I can't just keep in touch with them with the expectation that we'll just talk about Israel all the time. After all, that is just a surefire way of realizing that a friendship is "surface" at best.

There were people on the dig about whom I really grew to care. Granted, we were only there for five weeks. But, we were with each other constantly. We ate together, worked together, traveled together, played cards together, drank a beer or two together, laughed together.

The first week, we sat at Shabbat dinner and threw around about a million movie titles. By the end of the trip, there were individuals with whom I talked about much more serious topics than that: serious relationships, dreams in life, difficulties, and, of course, the rules and history of Euchre.

When you're in an environment like that of the dig where you're forced to get to know the people around you, whether or not you actually like it, it is always refreshing to realize that there are those who you would've wanted to befriend in any other circumstance. My situation was particularly crazy because the 3 people that I spent the most time with, and with whom I hope most to keep in touch, are 23, 39, and 10. You don't plan for friendships to develop, and if you do spend all of that time "planning," then it seems like it's not really a friendship. You ought not force people to share things in common, or to laugh at the same ridiculous jokes (seriously, Euchre has never been so hilarious), or even to be honest with each other about some more important topics.

Being in Israel this summer had a greater impact on me than I realized when I was there, and even in the first few weeks after returning to the states. Now that I have been back for just shy of two months, I am beginning to understand how critical it was for me to have that sort of experience.

Plus, now I get to look forward to seeing a whole bunch of great people at SBL in Philly this November, and am in the midst of planning a trip to New Orleans, if I can swing it over Spring Break.

At any rate, I can't wait until Cpt. Badger gets my copy of his cd mix in the mail. I imagine I'll listen to that thing on repeat for a few weeks...It's a blessing and a curse to have such a good memory as I. I spend so much of my freetime, while I'm driving and whatnot, thinking about and reliving moments from this summer in Israel...

:0)