New Song 2011 Tour : Day 16

What an early morning it was today….but it was so worth it. Yessi and I didn’t have alarms, so our host mom came and woke us up this morning at 6:50. Not having to curl our hair was great. We had very little to do to get ready and had a quick breakfast of cereal before leaving. Apparently yesterday there was a bad tornado in Missouri. Our host mom has family in the town that the tornado was, so she’s worried about them. She’s couldn’t get a hold of them because the phone lines are all down over there. So, we’re praying for her family. Praying that they are all right. Everyone was so excited on the bus today! Home was within reach! I missed my bus buddy, Victoria though. It was a long bus ride…about 3 or 4 hours. We didn’t make any stops though, not even for bathroom breaks, though….we just wanted to get home. Everyone was cheering as Magnolia came into sight. Home Sweet CBU. I’ve never been so happy to see CBU before…or to get off the bus. Alysha, Sherie and I walked to the dorms to get our stuff out of storage…and found our cards have been deactivated and won’t open the doors anymore. The cleaning ladies were sitting inside, but they just looked at us as we knocked on the door and tried to get in, then they walked away. Ugh. Alysha called Merea and she said she’d be their in 10 minutes or send someone. Then we saw a Security/public safety guy and asked him to let us in. He let us in and we went and grabbed Alysha’s bags. But then the security guy said that he had just called his boss and his boss said he couldn’t let us in unless an RD or RA was there. Soooo…..we put Alysha’s stuff back in storage and went back outside…..and waited for Merea to get there. She showed up shortly after that and let us in. Dad, along with Nick and Samantha, arrived soon after that and we loaded all my stuff up in the suburban. I had forgotten my choir dress though, and wanted to say goodbye to Adrian, who I had left at the music building. So after loading up my stuff, I ran back to the music building…..only to find I had just missed Adrian’s departure by a minute. I was so sad/upset! I didn’t get to hug her goodbye. Sigh. Just my luck. I got my dress, said goodbye to Marissa, who was in the music building, hugged Mariah and Brittaney goodbye, and speed walked back to the suburban….all the way over at the dorms. Saying goodbye to Kayla, Mariah, and Brittaney was hard. I am going to miss them and Adrian and Victoria so much this summer. They definitely are wonderful friends and I love them. Colette and her parents had come over when we were loading everything up, to say hi and visit, and were still there when I got back. We all talked for a short time, then bade each other goodbye and parted ways---us to lunch and our hotel, them to Colette’s grandma’s house. After a nice lunch at Carl’s Jr., checking in at the hotel, and resting a bit, we decided to go the Tyler Mall. We walked around in there for a while, then drove around scoping out our dinner options before returning to the hotel. I caught up on fb and blogs, while they watched tv. At 6:30 we headed out for dinner. We had planned on going to Hometown Buffet. However, the place that Dad had thought was Hometown Buffet….turned out to be an Office Depot. How he thought Office Depot was Hometown Buffet I have yet to figure out….but it gave us all a laugh. We ended up eating pizza instead. We had bomb breadsticks and pizza though….so good! Dad made a grocery store stop to pick up some water after dinner, before going back to the hotel for more TV, facebook and resting. Tomorrow we drive home! Life is good. Very good. (and needless to say….I’ve been talking nonstop since Dad, Nick, and Samantha have arrived).