So much for normal…

I've really been missing my Nauvoo family lately. I see a few of the sisters who go to BYU off and on during the week, and although those are definitely bright spots in my day, I miss seeing everyone all together. It feels like a part of me is missing. I spent every waking moment with those people for three and a half months. Even more than that, I spent every moment with at least two other people--awake, asleep, eating, reading, you name it we were together. Especially Sister Lieber. We were companions for the entire summer, so she was never more than a holler away. I don't think you can really understand what my feelings are until you spend an extended period of time serving with the same people day in and day out. It's like missing your shadow, or a piece of your soul. We, as a band, were bound together first by a common mission, then by blossoming friendship, and now by love. I love those people with all of my heart--they changed my life and lifted me to heights I didn't know existed. They are my brothers and sisters in every sense of the word except having the same set of biological parents (instead we have the Blackintons). Oh how I miss them.

Sister Reid wrote this song for our band reunion a few weeks after we got back from Nauvoo. Her songs were the other constant music this summer, so I think it's fitting that she can give voice to my feelings tonight:

Nauvoo Jones
By Sister Noelle Reid

Now we're home,
Back from whence we came.
But now I'm home,
Things don't seem the same.
Not only are you always on my mind,
But there are some things Nauvoo left behind:

I'm feeling for my tag,
Backing my car,
Wond'ring where my bloomers are.
Now I jump when I hear a phone.
So much for normal, I've got the Nauvoo Jones.

I take Sister Mom when I go to the store.
It seems that I can't be alone anymore.
I sing "Hello, everybody!" when a piano starts to play.
Will my chigger bites ever go away?

I'm feeling for my tag,
Backing my car,
Wond'ring where my bloomers are.
Now I jump when I hear a phone.
So much for normal, I've got the Nauvoo Jones.

I use foul in everything I say.
I miss my vest, to my own dismay.
Boys scare me now and puns do too,
And all my stories start with "one time in Nauvoo"

When I was wearing my tag, and backing the van.
Days never went according to plan,
But I had my companion; I was never alone,
Now I'm back, but am I really home?

Because I'm feeling for my tag, and backing my car,
Wond'ring where the heck my sisters are.
Now I jump when I hear a phone.
So much for normal, I've got the Nauvoo Jones.
So much for normal, I've got the Nauvoo Jones!

I love you.