Day 21: Afternoon off

Kindle, my favorite flavored water and the
teddy bear left on my bed. 

We've been in Lake Charles for less than 72 hours and I am already loving it here! With the home stay situation, Bridget and I are with the same host family and then there are other pairs at other homes and two of our team members are staying by themselves with a family. I'm grateful to have a team member with me. It hasn't been too awkward staying in the Sumner's home since it is just an older couple, but it's nice to have someone else here. Their home is in the country club community where the tournament is being held, so Bridget and I were able to walk to the clubhouse this morning.

We worked this morning from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then got the afternoon off. As we were leaving, we all just kind of looked at each other; we had no idea what to do with free time! Since we arrived at training, practically every minute has been planned out. Bridget and I came back to our house for the afternoon. I did some laundry, ironed my uniform for the week, read, called my mom and then ended up falling asleep for 45 minutes. I woke up so disoriented! That was the first time that I had actually napped in about two years. I am never able to fall asleep because there is always something I could be doing, so I took advantage of my quite time today!

Afternoon storms

For dinner, we headed over to a family's house in the same country club community. They served burgers and invited some of their friends over. Everyone here is just so nice! They are so hospitable and open up their homes to us. Although we jumping from family to family for dinners, each of them make us feel so welcome and at home, which, after staying in hotels for the past three weeks, is a wonderful feeling! The mother and I got to talking tonight about her kids who are 14 and 12. She asked about my siblings and I got to talk with her about Michael. She asked about what he and I were like at that age because her kids are really snappy with each other. It was fun to walk down memory lane and realize how much Michael and I have grown in our relationship and as individuals. We were sitting at the kitchen table when we were talking and everyone else was gathered around the kitchen island and just looking around it made me think of my home. The kitchen is definitely the heart of the home and I felt at home tonight. It was a great way to end the day!