Day 32 / May 5, 2012

I woke up on day 32 pretty early. Right when I woke up I still was pretty shocked that I was in a nice house and was clean and comfortable. It was pretty wild to me after being homeless and smelly so much in the last month.
       As I opened my eyes I was wondering if anyone was awake yet. I honestly wanted to go back to sleep and sleep in, but if they were up I would feel guilty and would have got up. I heard nothing and it didn't sound like anyone had gotten out of bed yet. So I took a deep breath and stretched then rolled over onto my side and closed my eyes dozing off again and feeling very comfortable. It was really nice to have my entire body comfortable with no aches or pain.
        I woke up again about an hour later. It was maybe 10:30 and I heard someone in the kitchen. I got up and had a great night of rest. I walked around into the dining room and kitchen area and it was Katherine's dad. He was making some coffee and tinkering around in the kitchen.
       I hung out with him and talked as we just kind of took in the morning. I was looking out the window and I realized I hadn't really done that this whole trip. Waking up and looking out to see what the outside looked like. Usually I am the outside. It was interesting. Weird how things like that cross my mind as it is something you would never think about when you are just accustomed to it.
          He asked me if I liked bacon eggs and grits. And I said "oh yeah!". Honestly at this point anything thats hot sounds good living like this. Just heated food is also something that is nice to have. Another one of those weird things I never thought about before. What is so good about hot food? I'm not really sure but when I eat something hot lately it seems to feed the soul.
         We hung out and talked about general stuff for a while as everyone sort of stumbled out of their rooms in the next hour. When breakfast was done we sat down and ate some Grits, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. It was a real treat to have a breakfast like that. It was the first time I think I have had actual breakfast food (besides one McDonald breakfast) on the trip. I really enjoyed it and not only was the taste good, but the mental feeling of hot breakfast that was home cooked with good company really hit close to home.
        We all sat around and just kind of had a lazy morning/afternoon. Katherine's friends showed up a little later and the crew from last night were all there. They were planning to go to a craw fish boil at around 5 or so and were baking and making desserts to take to that. Katherine's mom told me some of their family history and I shared a little about my family with all of them. Made me miss home even more but I still felt at home being with them here also, and that feeling was great.
         So after a while they were all getting ready to leave to the boil, and they insisted I stay another night there. They said I could stay there while they were gone no problem and they would be back later. I was a little hesitant to stay just because I wasn't sure if they were sincerely wanting me to stay, or if they felt guilty kicking me out. I shared that thought with them and they were very insistent that I stay and that I could walk to their church (which was on my route out) in the morning and join the service with them. I was very happy that they enjoyed my company as I really loved being there. So I decided to stay.
        After they all left I was there alone. It was a pretty good feeling that a person who looks pretty rugged and homeless (me) that their family knew not even a full 24 hours trusted me to stay there alone in their house for hours. It was reassuring and really made me feel good about myself and that they felt comfortable with that. Plus hauling a big screen away on my cart would have been a slow getaway. Jk. So I watched a couple movies while they were gone and I actually missed them and couldn't wait til they were home.
        A little later they came back. They brought me some crawfish and I tried it for the first time. It was really good but was quite a bit of work for such a small amount of food. I think the boil is more of a social gathering with other foods and not just eating a lot of actual crawfish. It would take me hours to fill up on it. But it was cool to try and was tasty.
          When they got back it was dark and everyone was pretty tired, including myself. Everyone kind of left to do their things and study for school, ect. So me and Katherine and her friend Andrew ended up watching a movie. We watched Legends of the Fall, my favorite. I have never enjoyed it as much as I did watching it there. Maybe it's because I hadn't watched TV or anything in a month, but it has so much more of an effect on me. I really enjoyed watching a movie.
      After the movie everyone was dead tired. Katherine told me that whatever I needed to make myself at home and asked if I was ok. I told her I was great and everything was good. Andrew left and everyone went to bed. I laid on the air mattress and dozed off. It was the last night I would stay as I needed to keep moving west. I started to think about where I might stay the next night. I caught myself stressing about it and then told myself, enjoy tonight and what God has given you. And tomorrow just trust He will give you the strength to get through whatever trials you face. That thought put me at ease. I fell asleep and was very comfortable.