Day 8: So Begins the Withdrawal

Day 8: It's Over / It's Not Over

Quote of the Day

"Dammit, who took my breathing machine?! Idiots."

- Hank Highfill

The whole groups (sans CSCHabitat staff)

First, happy birthday to Habitat-er Rachel Glick! This was her first trip with RC Habitat, and we hoped she loved it as much as we did.

Second, today marked our return to the Roanoke campus. We left the camp at 7:00 (okay, 7:05, but that's only because I firmly believe in showering and thereby not smelling like crap before traveling), drove a few hours, hit up McDonald's for breakfast*, and then drove the remainder of the way. We were back on campus by 1:00.
* As our future Habitat trips are being planned, I insist that every tradition remain the same except our McDonald's breakfasts and Wendy's lunches. Every time, we have them. And usually they're not... good. (Especially after a week of delicious food.)

And so ends our spring break Habitat trip. The pictures are slowly making their way to Facebook. Liesl has shared a small sampling of hilarious quotes from the week (also on Facebook). Those of us that save our nametags have added them to our wall-bound collections (including, for me at least, an honorary "Thingamadoohikey" tag that stands for the nametag theme that we never used). Showers have (hopefully) been taken (though that darn concrete is still not coming off). Laundry is being washed and stripped of the smells of sweat and sawdust.

As the physical reminders of this week get brushed to the side, it's important not to forget the real reason behind what we do. While we were returning today, the house that Roanoke College sponsored for our fall break build as well as its neighboring house which we also worked on were dedicated. They're now in the hands of their homeowners, the adorable Andrise and Sheila. We all wish we could've been there (though with the amount of tears that have been shed this trip, I don't know if our tear ducts could've handled it). This makes for a wonderful reminder of the real reasoning behind Habitat: to provide housing, community, and hope for those in need. We didn't physically build a house this trip, but I hope we all remember that we've been a part of this mission. Andrise and Sheila are living proof of that.

And so begins the Habitat withdrawal.

But before we go about the business of everyday life, some things to remember:

• In 14 days, on March 23rd, the R-House from orientation 2012 will be dedicated.
• In approx. 168 days, in late August, we will begin construction on our eighth R-House.
• In 217 days, in mid-October, fall break hits again. (Columbia, beware.)

 (If anyone would like to officially keep the countdown for number of days until these begin, let me know. Usually I would but I'll be spending 70some-odd of those days in Zambia and would likely lose count. Alas.)

Thank you, once again, to our CSCHabitat family for a wonderful week.

Love,
Andrew Dittmar
RC Serve blogger
[Mollie took tonight off, too, but she still sends her love.]

P.S. This will be the last blog post in here for awhile, but if you're still interested in reading my musings, I operate another blog which I would gladly share with you if you ask. :)

Bloggers & friends (R-L): Andrew Dittmar, Katie Larrivee, Mollie Gleason, Haley Toresdahl