No Place Like Home

Just like Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, there is no place like home. Last week I was able to go home for a few days and although it might not have been the best timing weather wise, it was still so nice to be home.

Mom and Bubby had just driven down to Ocala, and not many of the girls were home, so I didn't have too much running around to do. First stop when I got home was off to Grandma's house. Over the past few years, Grandpa has slowly been declining in health, but the last few weeks, has been rapidly getting worse. Hence my trip home.

 On Tuesday I went up and he looked ok, better than I was expecting. Coherent and knew who I was so I was happy. Grandma and I had lunch, then I came home in time for class. I went back up on Thursday and he was so much better, like nothing was wrong. Sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and walking around the house. Definitely made me feel so much better.

I got to see George while I was home too. Up in the freezing tundra that is the Poconos these days. He was fat and happy and seemed to be pretty warm, considering the negative temperatures. His neck was also better, so I am very happy to see that he is feeling good. Makes me feel better each time I leave that I know he feels ok and healthy.

Bailey was helping with my work.

I also got to see a few other people- I saw Katie a few times and got caught up on the goings on of Allentown. I took a trip to the middle of nowhere NJ to see Kelsey's house with Hagan and its really cute. Most exciting person--- I got to have dinner with Amanda, my college roommate, who I haven't seen in probably close to two years. It was so nice to see her and catch up and it seemed as if no time had passed and we had seen each other last week. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we meet up again.


With some quality time with Ben and Dad, it with time to head back to FL and out of the frigid frigid cold. Now I know why I moved south and away from the ridiculously cold temperatures.

Another highlight of the weekend was THON. The 46-hour dance marathon is always something that I look forward to even though I can't be at PSU. The biggest most exciting weekend in PSU can be watched all over the world as Penn State students dance and raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund to fight pediatric cancer. For some reason, this year just didn't feel the same as it has. Maybe it was the energy, maybe it was that I wasn't at school amid all the excitement. But the final four hours still gave me chills. This year was the first year that we did not break our record, but that is nothing to be ashamed of. The total has to plateau at some point and any amount of money raised helps those kids. This year, we raised $13 million. An amazing amount that makes me proud to be a Penn Stater.