A wonderful, wonderful weekend

I went to hang out with Leigh this weekend at school. After the craziness that happened a few weeks ago, I was really missing her. She's a constant source of calm in the midst of any storm. It was so, so good just to hang out with her for the weekend. I can't think of anything in the world I'd rather have done.

My weekend was slightly clouded over by some pain. Warning that if you get grossed out extremely easily, you may not want to read this paragraph. I've always had to sit "just so" or I'd get a shooting pain in my tailbone. Well, that little spot got bigger and swollen and super painful. I went to the ER Thursday night, and it turned out to be a pilonidal cyst that had to be drained. That would have been fine (I just had to sit on a cushion for a few days and take Tylenol). I was getting better on Friday and for part of Saturday, but by Sunday I knew something was wrong. My marble-sized lump was the size of a golf ball and extremely painful. I went to the doctor today and got sent immediately to the surgeon. Only stop to pick up Percocet and antibiotics. The surgeon drained the cyst, which hurt like HECK this time (luckily, my mom stayed with me and that helped) and will have to be removed in a not-so-little surgery in a few weeks. I'm not thrilled, at all. I'm scared.

Anyway, aside from that little interlude, do you want to know what I did on my wonderful weekend with Leigh? I knew you did. I think I can remember it all! Well, when I got there, she was in class for a few hours and I hadn't slept due to the ER trip the night before, so I collapsed in her bed and slept. I got up and we went to the music store in town where the owner keeps three cats. I love these cats and have visited them many times in the past couple of years. We played with and pet the cats. Chaos, the big, fluffy kitty, was so thrilled to see me. I love that he still remembers me. Then we got Chinese food (mmm, beef and broccoli!) and took that back to the room to eat. Leigh had to go to a Young Life meeting, so I went to find us Dove Bars (the ice cream ones, since Leigh had never had one and they're heavenly) and hung out with another friend on campus. After that, we met up for the annual big dance show. The show was great. I had never gotten to go in all my years at school because I was so worn out from classes and being social all week that I couldn't handle doing things on weekends too... it felt really good to be able to go this year.

Saturday, I woke up early (8AM) because of the pain and stayed up. I messed around on my computer while I waited for everyone else to wake up. Then, we got ready and went out to a local Mexican restaurant with a mutual friend, Heather. She's the sweetest girl, and we had so much fun talking and laughing and eating good food. We stopped at Heather's on the way back to campus to see her two dogs. They're both chihuahuas. One is 15 lbs and one is a little, tiny, 3-lb puppy. After hanging out with Heather, we went to Leigh's friend Lee's (oh, yeah, that's fun) senior saxophone recital. He was really good. I only made it through the first half with the sitting, but what I saw was great. We just kind of hung around for the rest of Saturday. We found out that our good friend Jen got engaged that day, so that was exciting news! We planned to make her a poster the next day. We ran out to Walmart to get me Tylenol and Tylenol PM then, because I wasn't sleeping very well. I finally slept through the night that night.

I even woke up late the next morning, at 11:30. We went to Walmart again to get supplies for Jen's engagement poster. We made it about the TV show The Office and analogies, since Jen loves The Office and English. Leigh did most of the poster making while I laid on the couch. I slept on and off all afternoon, worn out from hurting for the past ten days. We went to church and I got up and down the whole time, and not always with the rest of the congregation. I love church, especially that church. After church, we went to Jen's to bring her poster and congratulate her. I'm SO excited about her engagement! Then, we stopped at Sheetz for a milkeshake to split (mmm, milkshake!).

We got back and I was really, really hurting. Even laying down wasn't relieving it anymore. I finally broke down and cried. Worried that I wouldn't be able to drive the next morning if I waited, I drove home at 10:30PM that night. It's just an hour's drive, but it was super dark. I was up most of the night again, crying, until my mom came and laid down with me. Given that that wouldn't do anything for the pain, it makes me think that I was as upset as I was hurting. Moms can fix everything, though, don't you know?

So, that was my wonderful weekend, pain aside. I couldn't have asked for a better time or a better friend. I wasn't positive I was going to go, but I'm so glad I did. It even included cats!