It's Great to Be Home

TheChristyBel and Her Secret Spot

Being back in Delaware for a portion of my holiday break was absolutely fantastic! Having 10-days of being back in the First State was EXACTLY what I needed after my semester at UWyoming. Everyday was jam-packed with visiting with friends, former co-workers, dinners at my favorite restaurants, hikes, and just plain relaxing in the comforts of my family's home. There was so much being done and fun being had, that I barely had time to pick up the camera to document it for the blog and memories. But let me tell you, being home with my family, best of friends, and a community that makes me feel like the 'true ChristyBel' was absolutely a wonderful rejuvenation to find myself again and make me feel full of nothing my positivity and happiness again. Here are some highlights to my Delaware Homecoming:

• As soon as I got off my plane in Philly, my mom picked me up and we drove straight to one of my former volunteer's holiday party at his and his wife's home. I had previously e-mailed Gordon letting him know of my return home and wanted to visit with him and the rest of the DNS Dream Team. Coincidently, he and his wife was hosting their annual holiday party for the DNS team that night (the night of my arrival)! How convenient?!? So Gordon thought it would be such a treat if we kept my 'homecoming' a secret and I would surprise the team at the party. The surprise was so fun! There was a Santa's hat and belt of sleigh bells waiting outside for me to wear and ring as I walked into the house. Seeing everyone's facing light up to a surprise guest from 'Santa' was absolutely fun to be a part of! It was so great seeing everyone and hearing about all the new projects they are in the process of doing and what they had accomplished over the year and a half I have been gone. I'm so proud of them. And I will admit, now that I am not working for DNS anymore, they are by far one of my favorite groups of volunteers to work with - they are practically a family to me. So coming home to that family was beyond one of the best gifts I received this holiday season.
• Of course I had to make visits to actually visit Delaware Nature Society! It was so nice seeing the transitions that this organization is going through. There was a lot of turnover in staff, so I felt a little lost meeting new staff. Practically, 1/3 of the entire core staff are new within the year, but it's good to see the organization evolving. And as usual, seeing familiar faces is even more great! Catching up with my former departments and supervisors is just awesome and seeing pictures of their children who I would babysit and teach, now little ladies and gentlemen makes me feel old, but still really awesome to hear updates.
• Had a great visit from the Toman's! I love that family so much! Gil and Garrett are getting so tall and chatting with David about possible job opportunities in New Paltz is getting me excited for what is going to come for me after graduating UWyoming! Cannot wait!
• Lunch with my Nature Center Father, Mike Riska, was absolutely wonderful! Hearing about St. John living, his involvement with outdoor and environmental education with Tatnall (even though he is retired), and all his adventures and advice on my next endeavors! I got to visit the Spring House and see the Longtail Salamander eggs, his Clivia Flower collection, and I also saw he still had my mural I painted him before he retired!
• After visiting the inside facilities of DNS, I was able to take a hike around the property - I missed hiking up past Hawk Watch, down into the conifers, and onto the Succession Trails. Oh, and visiting the secret spot, 'Ghost Tree' on the floodplains! Ahhhhhh! Those trails will never get old!
• Had a full day of some besties time with Brenna, Lana, and Amy. I love the friendships where you can be away from each other for so long and then as soon as you are reunited, it seems like there was no time spent apart! Catching up, hearing about events and gossip I have missed, visiting with Padfoot, Dougal, Reese, and Sadie, and so much more! Those moments are what I look forward to when I come home.
• Visited my boys at Eastern Mountain Sports too! The store has changed since they acquired a new store manager. It looked great in there! And there were more women working in the store! How awesome is that! I felt as if I was the only one working there when I was still at EMS. But yea, always full of laughter and bullshitting in that store - some things do not change! But I would not want to change that for the world! And of course, I got some new gear to bring back to Wyoming too!
• Had a wonderful visit with Whitney! I'm sure you read about our trip to Longwood Gardens in a previous blog post, so I won't go into detail again about it.
• And of course, my family! Sleeping in my own bed was AWESOME! Catching up with the brother, eating home-cooked food from mom, and spending the holidays with Phyllis, Ray, and my family was great! This blog has come in handy so many times when people ask me what I have been up to or how I am doing. It was really easy and convenient to talk about my stories and have access to those pictures on the blog. When I was practically giving a presentation to my family on Christmas Eve, Mom would say 'Tell Phyllis about the time when....' or 'Did you show her the pictures of....' Obviously Mom has been reading it religiously, but Phyllis would get so excited and I'd have to take her to the next highlight of my Forever West adventure.
• On Christmas Day, we opened gifts in the morning and that evening my brother and I went to the Patterson's annual Christmas Party. So fun. We also went to the Penn IMAX Cinema in Wilmington to watch The Interview. That movie was ehhhh. I'm not going to go into that opinion, but it was definitely not what I expected: funny at times, but not what I expected.
• Got some holiday crafting in as well and cleaned/organized/threw out what is left of my belongings in that house...the day I officially move out of that house...wow.

Being home was just the thing that I needed after this crazy and stressful semester! I do feel rejuvenated and refreshed and mostly ready for my next tasks that I need to accomplish this holiday break. So...yea, bring on the next set of adventures: including Asbury Park, returning back to Jackson, and of course...finishing my Plan B paper! Let's do this! There's no place like my East Coast home!

TheChristyBel

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