That Spark

Here's a crucial piece of information about understanding the mind (and heart) of Samantha Marie Gormley.  I tend to create families and so far in my 21 years of life, I've created a handful.  I have my biological family, which, yeah, I didn't create, but I did accept them. : P Same goes for my extended family.  Then there's my church and childhood family, my SJS family, my camp family, my BHS family, and my Rockhurst family.  When I create these families, I take everything about them, the good and the bad, embrace it, and proceed to love it to pieces.  Sometimes I show it in a pretty funny way, but I do.  I'm the only person who can say anything bad about my families and should you dare to even think ill thoughts about my families, you and I are going to have a rough moment in which I proceed to tell you all the ways you're wrong and why you're never going to do that again.  I don't always like my families, but I always love them, and I know the feeling is mutual, even, and sometimes especially, the dislike part.  I've lost count of all my sisters and cannot begin to measure the love they bestow on me, all my moms would do almost anything for me and I could go to them with anything, each of my dads will give me equal amounts of grief about everything (in a loving and teasing manner, of course), and my brothers never fail to simultaneously drive me crazy and make me smile.  We are, in almost all ways but living arrangements and the matter of DNA, just like real families.  With this being said, I don't go into things expecting to create these families- they just happen.  We slowly discover who the other is and then there's a moment- it's a spark that lights up your heart and soul and you realize that right now, this very moment, you have all you ever need and this is what real happiness looks like.  I've only had these moments with the people I care most about in the world.  I'm blessed to care about and for each member of my families.  

I guess I bring this up because it was something that was really on my mind before coming to Florence.  What was I going to do without my families?  I didn't know any of these people and I only had four months with them.  Where was four months going to get me and what was that going to do to me and my families?  I knew I was going to meet amazing people, but who were they going to be in the grand scheme of my life?  I didn't give them much benefit, to be honest with you.  But I'm beginning to reevaluate..  

The other night I was simply sitting at the table minding my own business while I ate my dinner.  One of my apartmentmates joins me and we just let the other girl be.  Then something somewhere in the house starts banging.  Apparently this has happened before and no one has yet to find the source of the banging.  As they start explaining this to me and all the hypotheses they have formed, I figure it out- its a ghost.  This stems an entire half-hour conversation about the supernatural which leads to what we want to do for Halloween to travel plans to holiday traditions, to God knows what else.  Do you ever have those conversation that are completely random, jump around but flow seamlessly, are just really enjoyable, and you really begin to see who the person you are talking to really is?  This is what is happening.  Somehow, I bring up the story, The Cajun Night Before Christmas, which really is a gem, especially if you try to read it in a Cajun accent.  None of the apartmentmates have heard of it and you just can't pass an opportunity like this up.  So there we are, the four of us sitting around the kitchen table having been drawn into the conversation, munching on bread and olive oil, trying not to laugh too hard to allow the reader a better chance of getting the accent right, and it happens.  That spark.  It's ridiculous, but I'm so happy and completely at ease and loving these girls and this is all I really wanted for my time here- to be happy.  I'm notorious for random quirky things like this, but I never would have imagined myself in Florence, Italy, reading The Cajun Night Before Christmas with three girls whom I had considered casual friends until a second before.  At that moment, you just have to sit back and say a prayer for the study abroad/ Florence family as it takes its first steps.  

And the best part of this is that it's just the beginning which was confirmed almost immediately.  The following night I went out with Brittany for dinner and to see Piazza Michelangelo at night (which is really lovely!) and 

we decided that we should try to stay up and find a secret bakery.  We were informed that there is one literally on my street!  So we head back to my apartment to kill time and brace ourselves for the glory that is to come.  My apartmentmates were home and upon hearing about our pending adventure were eager to join.  So at 1am, out we march to find this great treasure.  Found it we did, but we found something so much more- companionship, harmony, laughter, joy.  Our treats were sweet, but I'm pretty sure most of their sweetness came from that moment.  

Meet the new family!  United by the thrill of secret bakeries.  L to R: Brittany, Abby, Anne and Alison

Brittany lives on the other side of the city and was ready to go home after our late night snack, so we decided to walk her back as a group.  The weather has suddenly turned cool here and the chilly night had driven everyone off the streets.  Too bad for them, because they missed a great time.  The streets were ours and we could not have been happier.  Just laughing and running around and taking pictures and weird dance moves and strange stunts.  It was like we had known each other for years.  

So after all this wonderfulness, you can't let the fun end there.  This morning we headed to the Boboli gardens for a picnic and of course managed to have a wonderful time doing relatively nothing.  The gardens are beautiful and we all couldn't stop talking about how we wanted to go more frequently.  

While the gardens are great, the company is better.  Arm us with a camera and we could be entertained for hours.  Well, we were entertained for hours.  Simply roaming and talking and dreaming up crazy poses is all this little family needs and this little family is all I need.  

To all my families, thanks.  Thanks for loving me enough to give me this chance and supporting me, no matter what craziness I'm causing or experiencing.  Know that I am thinking of you all always and my love for you is constant.  You all make my jump for joy!  Praise the LORD for YOU!!  : )

Hoping that you all aren't secretly glad to be rid of me for a little while,

Sam