Aurea

My weekend flew by in a whirlwind of signing papers, packing, and enjoying my last few moments of freedom before heading off to retreat with Mary Rose, who had gladly offered to drive me when I tried to get out one last time, saying both my parents had to work Monday. 

"Oh, I've got you covered!" Mary Rose had assured me over the phone last night. I had taken a deep breath in and out, quickly telling her I had to go and hanging up without a goodbye.

Now, I lay on my bed at 7:00 in the morning. Mary Rose would be at my house in an hour, and I was no where near ready. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to figure out how I wanted to tackle the morning. I threw my feet over to the side of my bed and stood up clumsily, still groggy from a good sleep last night. With heavy feet, I trudged over to my closet and selected some nicer but comfortable clothes, having no knowledge of what would be happening at the retreat. 

At 7:59 AM. my toaster waffles had just popped up and I threw them onto a napkin, ignoring the heat that seared my fingertips. Thirty seconds later, at 8:00 on the nose, a silver Honda minivan pulled up and honked its horn in the driveway. I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and struggled to drag it out the door, my mom trying to shower me with kisses as I left. 

"Bye, mom." I rolled my eyes after slamming the door shut. Sullenly, I rolled my suitcase down the asphalt towards the van as if I was being shipped off to military school. Mary Rose's mom popped open the trunk and I heaved my suitcase into it, right next to Mary Rose's, whose luggage looked minuscule next to mine. I gulped, hoping I hadn't over-packed.

"You must be Aurea!" Mary Rose's mom stepped out of the car to open the door for me, embracing me in a huge hug. I stood stiff, not used to strangers hugging me, as if anyone is. "I'm Kathrine!" 

"Hi, uh, Kathrine." I stepped back and offered out my hand for her to shake. She looked confused at first, but smiled again and shook my hand. She had the same soft, welcoming smile as Mary Rose. 

"Well, c'mon then!" Kathrine opened the door for me and shooed me inside. I hopped in, and Mary Rose turned around and smiled at me. I was surprised she was so awake for it only being eight in the morning. 

"Good morning, Aurea!" Mary Rose greeted me. I gave her a small smile and buckled my seat belt. "Are you ready?" She prompted.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I replied and settled back into my seat. Despite me totally seeming grumpy, Mary Rose's smile never faded and she simply turned back around, fiddling with the radio station. 

The drive to the retreat center was actually very long. And that's not just because the minutes seemed to drag on as hours, but the drive literally took an hour and fifteen minutes. That was partly because of the distance, but also partly because Katherine refused to go above 50 MPH, even though we were in a 65 MPH zone. Mary Rose didn't even seem to notice. 

When we pulled into the rocky drive of the center, there were two adults waving their arms around like crazy, flagging us down. Katherine pulled over to them and rolled down the window. A woman in her mid-to-late thirties walked over to the open window.

"Boy or girl?" The woman asked Kathrine.

"Two girls!" Kathrine replied excitedly. 

"Take the path to the right!" The lady gave Kathrine a big smile and Kathrine rolled her window up, pushing on the gas and taking us down the right path. I turned to look back, and the pair of adults continued to dance around, waiting until the next car came. I stifled laughter at them. They looked ridiculous, but they didn't seem to care.

"We're here!" Mary Rose looked around, a spark in her eyes, like she was at Disney World. 

"Yep," I too looked around, but more to see who I wanted to avoid this week. It was looking like everyone at the moment. Great. 

"Do you girls need any help?" Katherine asked as she pulled into a parking space and unlocked the doors.

"No, mom." Mary Rose replied, a hint of impatience in her voice. I was stunned that the Mary Rose could have a flaw. 

"Alright, then." Kathrine took the hint. "You two have the best week ever!" Kathrine gave Mary Rose a kiss on the cheek and waited as we unloaded our bags, leaving as soon as we were done. We quickly headed down the hall that was near the entrance and dropped our stuff into one of the dorms, I on the top bunk and Mary Rose on the bed underneath. 

"Oh, I just can't wait for you to meet everyone!" Mary Rose bubbled. "Well there's- oh, I guess I should probably introduce you to our high school youth minister first." 

"Your what?" I shook my head in an attempt to sort all these new faces and information. It was like a tidal wave of Catholicism. 

"Our high school youth minister! Sari will absolutely love you." Mary Rose reassured me before leading us to our room, which wasn't really our room, but rather we picked a random one with a whole bunk bed free and I took the top, Mary Rose happily agreeing to the bottom bunk.

"So, who's Sari?" I asked, maneuvering around so many people talking and laughing. They all looked so, well, happy.

"She's the one that coordinated all this." Mary Rose motioned with big gaping arms at the room around us. "With a little help, of course. There she is!" She pointed to a woman who looked in her early-to-mid thirties, with long, sleek brown hair reaching down to the middle of her back. She bore black square frames that would've looked dorky on anyone else but just made her look gentle.

"Hello, Mary Rose!" Sari's voice was so soft and warm, much like Mary Rose's. 

"Hi, Sari!" Mary Rose ran over and gave Sari a quick hug, motioning for me to follow.

"Who's this?" Sari smiled at me and gave me a small wave.

"Aurea, remember I told you about her last weekend as Mass?" Mary Rose reminded her. Sari's face lit up with recognition.

"Of course, Aurea!" Sari gave me a big grin and hugged me the same way Katherine did. I still stood stiff. Sari, different from Katherine, took a hint and backed off, straightening her shirt out. 

"Uh, hi." I gave a tiny little finger wave and looked to Mary Rose for help. 

"Well," Mary Rose sucked in a deep breath. "I'd better get to introducing you to everyone else." She smiled and motioned for me to follow her. I reluctantly did. Hopefully not everyone would hug me like Sari and Katherine did.

"Nice meeting you!" Sari called after me.

"Yep!" I replied over my shoulder in passing.

"Well, this is everyone." Mary Rose gestured to the huge sea of people in front of us. 

"Oh wow." I sighed and Mary Rose began introducing me to a bunch of random faces I would probably never see again. I just plastered on my smile and shook people's hand, thinking I would never need them again. 

Boy, was I wrong.

Hello everyone! I'm back! Well, I never really left for more than two days, but you get the point. I hope everyone liked the song at the top of the page there, it's one of my personal favorites. Well, I like all the songs that are at the top of every chapter, that's why they're there!

Aurea's finally getting into some action here! Sorry it took so long to get the story going, but now we are hitting the ground running and we'll meet another very important character here in the next chapter. Well, now I'm sure you're excited!

I had a little trouble picking today's Soul Study because, unlike the last chapter, there seemed to be a lack of themes here for me to choose from, because it was such a story-line heavy chapter and was more based on setting up Sari and Mary Rose and Aurea at camp. However, I thankfully found one. So, here's today's Soul Study!:

There have probably been a lot of people in your life that have come at you with open arms, whether they be to welcome you or to comfort you. Do you meet them in the middle, or do they have to come all the way to you, and work hard to soften you up to accept them?

That's about it, folks! Until next chapter ;).

xoxo

~bcruzy_02