Of Beatles and Downpours and Dancing Shoes

The summer is proving difficult to find things to write about, but here be a post from long ago.  Enjoy!

Fourth Hill.  That's where I found out I was living last July and I didn't know what to think.  Hooray for Hill Hall, who cares what floor it was?  Little did I know that the floor is what would bring me so much joy in my freshman year of college.  Forty three girls live on my floor in twenty one rooms.  They're all arranged in unique ways, each filled with different things and different styles to fit different personalities.  At times, it feels like we couldn't be any more unique.  We have all grown up in different towns and attended different schools and we all ended up here, and I am so glad we did.  There have been so many times in the last week that I was so grateful to be on Fourth Hill and I want to share them with you.

Last week, I invited the whole floor over to my house.  I also invited the brother floor.  There were fifty of us crammed into our tiny Seattle home and we all sat there, eating and talking.  We could've sat there for hours if we hadn't felt so squished, but we needed to get out.  We went to the park and played ultimate frisbee.  There we were by Greenlake, my brothers and sisters of Fourth Hill all tossing a frisbee around with my dad and I was so proud to be his daughter.  To them, he is a pastor and a sometimes distant figure.  But here they were, hanging out with him and seeing him in his truest form.  That of a father, a mentor and simply a great man.  Soon after we started, the rain began to pour down, but we didn't care.  They had been in Seattle long enough to know that rain is something you should count on and they were no longer afraid of getting wet.  

We continued the game, not caring about the wet and we were having a marvelous time.  My favorite part was that my team was being DESTROYED by the other team.  When the score was finally "a lot to two" the other team decided to trade some of their teammates, but we would have none of that:

"These are our friends."

"We like our team just the way it is."

"We don't need your pity."

"Let's just keep playing, we're having a good time."

Those were our comebacks and the game continued while the rain continued to pour down on us, mixed with patches of sunshine.  It's spring quarter and we are going to make the best of it.

A few days later, I was sitting in my room as the sunshine poured in.  A few other girls joined me and we were sitting there for I don't know how long.  We put on the Beatles and sang along and we were just lying in my bed like a big pile of puppies.  The music played as a backdrop for our conversations and encouragement for this last month of school.  This, to me, was a picture of the biggest lesson I have learned this year: To pause for just a moment in your day and enjoy the people who surround you.  Enjoy the atmosphere of the place you are in and take a moment to be thankful for it.  Not very many college students are blessed with such a community and I feel so lucky.  This occurred just a few days before a beautiful evening full of food, friends and fun.

The Hill Hall Ball was a night I will never forget.  Essentially, it is the prom for the dorm, but significantly less awkward and much more fun.  The girls got all dressed up in old formal dresses and asked each other to do their hair and make-up while the boys...well, who knows what boys do when they get ready for such an event.  All I know is that when Fourth Hill showed up in the Hill Hall Lounge for our potluck dinner, I was just so happy to be among them.  I cannot even express how much they all mean to me, each and every one of them.  We made vats of spaghetti with sides of waffles smothered in Nutella.  A strange potluck, yes, but it is also a very strange floor.  We gathered around the huge table and talked and laughed and then had ourselves a little photo shoot.  We only look this good once a year, so we had to make the best of it.

After the photos were taken, we all crammed into tiny cars and headed to the ball, ready to dance and eat our "free" desserts.  The DJ set up his record player and then it all began.  A big mass of Hill Hall dancing to Paper Planes and the Cha Cha Slide.  It was no high school prom, it was one billion times more amazing.  There is no where else in the world I could have danced like such a fool and not be mocked in an enormous way.  I watched as my dear friend Anna put her cheek next to Ben's during the slow songs and I fluttered around the dance floor, making sure to see everyone.  We danced the night away until it all ended with a slow dance to Frank Sinatra singing "Fly Me to the Moon" as my friend Anthony twirled me around the floor.  It was a majestic evening and made me ever so thankful to be a part of this Hill Hall world.  

What a week it has been, one I will never forget.  Thank you, Fourth Hill, for being such a huge part of these beautiful memories.