The Beginning of the End (with a LOT of pictures!)

August 13th

     Monday. I woke up a bit early that day, for which I was thankful. Kaylah was all packed up, and Desiree about to take her and Thor to the airport. But she came over and hugged me. I told myself not to cry...but I did. Kaylah was my first friend at Teen Mania.

We had been through a lot. We had lived with each other for a really long time. We were best friends. And she was leaving me. I cried. When she hugged me, she whispered "Only 10 months, and you'll be back." She was trying to comfort me...but it didn't really help.

Yeah, I would be back in 10 months, but I still had to endure the next 9 months and 30 days. I was so miserable. Thankfully it was time to go to work, so I could keep my mind off of my sorrow. I worked lunch with Karen. It was our week to work lunch. We got off of work before 2pm.

So early. What on earth was I supposed to do for the rest of the day. I just wanted to cry. I wasn't just feeling sad with Kaylah leaving...I was feeling sad because this was the beginning of the end. Only 4 days, and we would all be torn apart. My family was about to torn apart.

This was deeply affecting me. I needed something to keep me busy. Karen wanted to go take a nap, but I knew that if I tried to sleep, I would just drown my sorrows in tears, and I really hate crying. So, I decided to go to work with Mariam. She asked me what was wrong...but I knew that if I told her, I would cry. But I think she understood.

We arrive at work about 3pm...just 1 1/2 hours too early. But instead of walking back to the lounge, we decided just to hang out in the caf. Philip and Ulises joined us for a little bit, and then Ulises left. Philip stayed, and we made all sorts of videos and got pictures. It was such a great 1 1/2 hours. I'm so glad I had gone.

We were serving Cici's that night, and some people showed up, but had to leave because they had a meeting. Karen also came into work, and everyone appointed me as shift leader for the night, only because I had experience with pizza. The night went smoothly.

After we cleaned up, we stayed in the lounge for the rest of the evening. I taught Karen some more bracelet stitches with letters. We just chilled out for the rest of the evening. Philip had plans to go out on the town with Snow, so Mariam gave him some money, and he brought back McDonald's. It. Was. Amazing. I love McDonald's!

Nickel

Me and Philip!!

Mariam bought us all McDonald's!