The last...

So many of these coming up. The last trip to Farmtown. The last "burger night" at the Palace. The last time we had company in our little apartment (other than those who will help us pack...). The last Wednesday A will be speaking at theWELL...that's tonight, by the way. The last coffee with Sarah. And more are coming. The last WELL. The last coffee with Ashley. The last walk with the girls. The last time I'll sing with the worship team here. The last, the last, the last....we've been "leaving" for so long (6 months! that now that it's actually HERE it seems a little surreal. 2 weeks before A and I got married, it was prophesied that we needed to "put down roots" here. At the time, we weren't thrilled to hear this...we wanted to leave after I graduated college and were looking for some "direction". (which, in hind sight, we got, but it wasn't what we'd thought it would be....) Now, for the past month or so, I've been looking at my world here in D-town through the eyes of one who "is leaving". And I've seen how many little roots we've put down here...how many life-changing friendships we've made here...how much we've shared and grown and loved here...and how much it's going to ache when we pull those little roots up. I was thinking about the stage at the church (random, I know) and how many HUGE life moments it's witnessed in the past years... I led my first worship song on that stage. A and I got engaged on that stage. 2 weeks before we married, Dw announced that it was the last time Miss Kristin Woods would be singing...but that Mrs. Bleger would be back in a few weeks! I felt my little son dance and kick as I sang and he grew inside me on that stage, until I had to retire to the seats a month before he was born. Most recently, we said goodbye to great friends on that stage...and soon it will be our turn. This is just one example, of course...I'm so very excited for this next season in our lives. But oh, my dear Durango friends, how I will miss not seeing you all every week!! Thank you for your dear friendships, for all the fun, silly, and serious times we've had, for sharing your lives with us and being a part of ours...for helping me through being the new girl in town, a new wife, being on staff, having a new baby. I have learned and grown so much from my friendships with you. You ARE my roots here, so much a part of who have become I can't cut you off or dig you out of my life. So...I guess that means you have no choice but to come along with me, at least in my heart. I am so glad that I have put down roots here. I can't say the last goodbye...never is there a last goodbye. It will only be see you later..because you have become a part of me.