Falling in Love with the South

Yes, it is true, I have officially fallen in love with the south. Everything about the lifestyle, from the work I have been doing, to the people I have been working with, to just the area that I have been living in, nothing falls short of amazing. I love learning new tasks, like bamboo flooring, punch out work like caulking and painting, building railings, and even learning how to start a house from the ground up, it all captured my interest and has made a lasting impression on me. I have also learned a lot from my site supervisors, not only about the tasks at hand, but about life and how we all have choices that lead us down different paths and bring us to places we may have never thought we would end up. Two of my site supervisors, Jamie and Joe are both originally from Maryland, came down to the coast to help out with Katrina relief right after the storm, fell in love with the place, people, and work they were doing and fast forward to today where they are working with Habitat for Humanity, inspiring young minds like my own and making a positive difference in the community every day J Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely miss my family and friends back home, and am still planning on moving back to Maine after my 10 months in AmeriCorps, but my heart is telling me that my work here is still not done and I hope that I will be able to come back sometime in the future and do even more to help out. One difference in lifestyles is that down here, I have been fortunate enough to make friends with some awesome local people (shout out to the Nation aka Biloxi crew) who I have hung out with a few times and they have taught me to really just enjoy every ounce of life and accept people as they are. While we were hanging out, there wasn't the usual gossip and complaining about a lack of things to do that night, but rather a happiness and enjoyment of just being around one another, enjoying each others company, and really living out the phrase “sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.” I was shocked by how quickly I was “accepted” into this group of people, and welcomed with open arms, quite literally…with warm hugs each time I saw them and before I left. The culture down here is much more relationship-oriented rather than task-oriented…like, it didn’t matter what we were all doing, as long as everyone was together. Having experienced this, I am now working on really enjoying the moment, the sheer happiness of just being around other people, and trying to incorporate more of that attitude into my everyday life. I know that I am a pretty optimistic and friendly person anyway, but there is always room for improvement, right? My AmeriCorps experience so far has just motivated me to strive to be the best I can be and not worry so much about, well…everything! Haha

Anyways, I could go on and on about how much I loved this last round, but I gotta save some stories to tell y’all in person! I just wanna give a big shout out and THANK YOU to my new friends who I really have only known a couple months, but feel like I have known my whole life: Jamie Morton, Joe Stowell, Michael Logan, Donald Jones & Co.  I really appreciate all that y’all have taught me about construction and life, being my friends, and reassuring me that this is not “goodbye,” but “see ya later,” because one way or another, sooner or later, I will be back in the area and I can’t wait to pick up where we left off!

Joe, Jamie, Neva, Michael Logan, Me (Bamboo flooring crew!)

New friends! (they are all so pretty! I felt like such a "Maine bumpkin" next to them, as my mom would say haha)

Night out (photo taken by Jamie with his amazing camera!)