Summer 2012--Last Tree, Manitouwadge

The last two days of planting we went from swamp to swamp to swamp to more swamp. Most planters will pee their pants in excitement over a really good sphag swamp, but not me. I get confused about how to manage it, can’t find my trees, bag the wrong number of PJ (non-swamp trees), and get soaked up to my knees so I have wet boots for the next few days. Give me furrows or brackie. More predictable. That being said, Monday and Tuesday weren’t terrible days. I was still planting with Lindsay (we agreed we kept each other off our asses) and it was nice to share the miseries and joys of planting.

"Iz the Wiz" 

 Tuesday’s misery: we were dropped off with two guys, who were supposed to lead us to our new piece. They told the bus driver the wrong road, which they didn’t realize until the bus drove away. The block we were in was kilometers long, and no one was going to be heading down the road. So we started walking. But we ended up at the main road and, the guys realized we had gone the wrong direction. So we started walking in the other direction. We walked about 4 kilometers, in our stupid huge boots, full jugs of water banging off our hips in our planting bags, trying to find a comfortable way to carry our shovel, before our knight in big white truck, Brad, came to rescue us and drive us to our piece. It’s shitty to walk for an hour and not get paid. Especially on a day when Barnes announces to the bus no one’s coming home til everyone hits 2k. Not an unreasonable demand, but I need that hour.

 Tuesday’s joy: jumping in the lake (see prior posts to read about “jumping in the lake” and where it ranks on my scale of awesome). All throughout the day Lindsday and I discussed cold things that would be incredibly satisfying: ice caps, a jump in the lake, a jump in the ocean, standing in the Artic…. So I took the opportunity to ditch the bus and jump in Brad’s truck with Tim and a couple other guys, as we all crossed our fingers and hoped he stopped at the lake. And sweet glory, he did. I like that one minute we can be falling asleep on the bumpiest gravel road, exhausted and unable to move, and then someone says “swim” and we all hustle out of the truck to strip down to our sweat- and dirt-stained boxers or bra, run down to the lake, dive in, and come up smiling, feeling like a million bucks. It truly is one of my favourite things. Sweaty boxers and all.

Greenmantle crew. I managed to sneak in. 

Anyways, I was so glad to be done on Tuesday. One week of planting, but I was toast. And I missed Jordan. I realized on the drive back, that I have now planted a “last tree” four times. Once in Black Bay, before I started cooking, again that contract because when we came back to the mainland I cooked AND planted one day, once after last year’s week and a half stint, and one more this year. And all four of those planting experiences added up to one full rookie year. So I am no longer a rookie! Yay! Now I CAN’T go back, because that means I’m a vet and I would have to step up my production. Not happening. I planted my last tree.

Summer 2012--First stop, Thunder Bay

So, it’s June. Which by tradition now, means I’m in Thunder Bay, finishing up a tree planting contract. Jordan and I are finally doing the road trip out West that we had wanted to last year, so since I was done a bit earlier than him, I caught a cheap flight up to T Bay and now I’m in the bush, planting until he comes to pick me up and take me to the Rockies.

I arrived at the airport on Monday, and got picked up by Justin, guy in charge of the plants. When I arrived, I wasn’t exactly sure how I was getting 6 hours into the bush, but as it turned out, Justin was driving out that day, so he offered to take me. It seems the less I plan, the more easily these things work out. It was a long drive, and Justin’s easily bored. One game was “turn on the heat and see how long until Danielle turns it off”. Just to ruin his fun, I refused to turn it off. Which turned into a stubborn standoff, to see who could handle the truck blasting heat with the windows closed for longer. About an hour and a half later he pulled up beside a lake, and, as it turns out, I am the more stubborn.. He got out first and lost. And then I had the best swim. A few more shenanigans, a few more swims / bridge jumps, and a few wrong turns later, we pulled up at camp. Cue nervous pit in my stomach.

At camp I’m staying in classy conditions this year—Muller is letting me bunk with her in her trailer, which comes complete with electricity and sometimes running water. We watch Community together before bed. Life is good at night. During the day…well…planting is planting. Lies. Planting sucks. I’ve only been here for a week, but I’m seriously wimping out this year. I’m ready to leave already. The first two days were really hot, and I spent a lot of my time swatting away deer flies, puking between bagups, and wondering why the heck I had decided this was a good idea. Thursday morning I woke up with my eye swollen shut from bites, and since it was also getting hard to breathe and swallow, I decided to stay back at camp for the day. Allison drove me into Manitouwadge to the hospital, just to be sure, and they gave me a couple shots of Benedryl, which knocked me out for the afternoon. That was nice. By evening I still looked like an ogre, which earned me the nickname “Fiona” from Brandon, but since then it’s gotten a lot better.

"Fiona"

Swamp foot has begun 

The next two days of planting were a lot better. Cooler, more wind, less bugs, no ogre-face. And a bug turban. I planted with a girl named Lindsday, which also helps pass the time a bit faster.

PB Friday for Linsday

Things that I like about planting--laying on a gravel road is comfortable 

Now it’s Sunday and we’re in town, waiting for the bus to bring us back to camp. Oh, side note—our bus is awesome. Dan got a ticket because it was yellow, so we painted it on Friday night. One guy at camp can do graffiti, so he painted “The Wizard” on the side in silver, and we all helped paint the rest blue. It’s the coolest planter bus I’ve seen yet. Photo to come. Anyways, I heard a truck is going back to the bus, and to avoid walking, I’m gonna jump on that. Two more days of planting, and then Jordan will pick me up and I can start telling you about adventures out West! Peace!

Finished Planting, Started Cooking

Well my planting career is now officially over! (Although, everyone says that…multiple times it seems…). Monday I was on the van crew, and we headed out to a block with clay soil. The planting wasn’t great, but wasn’t terrible either. It was a hot day, but during my last bag-up a storm rolled in and it just POURED! It was awesome--that was the kind of rain I like to plant in!

Tuesday was another good day at the same block. The three rookie girls and I had to walk in to the back of the block, and since it had stormed the night before, it was a muddy walk! My boots are a lot harder to walk in when there’s 10 lbs of mud on each foot! So we took our time getting in our land after that….which I didn’t mind! The little things made me happy on Tuesday. I think I thanked God for each cloud that covered the sun, lol. I was also pretty stoked that Erica had an ipod I could borrow all day to drown out the sound of the bugs. And when the tree checker left wild flowers at my cache, I planted with a smile for the next half hour. (On the bus he said, “Yeah, chicks totally dig flowers”—he’s got me pegged). The end of the day was the best though—instead of having to walk back out to the bus, Jon picked up the 4 of us girls on the quad, with two hanging off the back, and two of us on the front. Then the bus stopped at the river beside the road so that we could jump in and cool off. Seriously—very few things make me happier than jumping in cold water after sweating buckets!

Wednesday I stayed at camp to do groceries, some baking, and to start cleaning the cook shack. It feels great to be back in the kitchen, and since I haven’t done a ton of cooking this past year (thanks to my wonderful husband who does it for me!) it’s been a real treat to cook for the planters. Since I start at 4 am, and the planters are working longs days, I have quite a bit of time during the day, so it’s a leisurely pace. I’ve gotten good reviews so far, and I’m excited for the stuff I’m making in the next few days too. I’ve had a couple requests, so I’m gonna attempt to re-create my “6k Surprise” dessert invention ...although I may have to rename it 4k Surprise this time. It’s also been chill because there’s a lot less planters, since it’s mid-July and people need to get home. Sometimes it looks like this contract will never end as the crew keeps getting smaller and smaller. I’ve decided not to book a ticket home until I know for sure that there are only one day’s trees left. Hopefully that’ll be Monday, and Tuesday I’ll fly home. We’ll see I guess!

Well, I should go check on the lasagna—here’s hoping it’s a hit!

PB Saturday

Saturday was a great day! At one point, I was actually smiling in my piece. That is rare. In the morning the crew was split into two groups--one in the van, one on the bus. (Sidenote--why do you say IN a van, but ON a bus? You get INto both and sit ON seats in both...). Anyways, I was on the bus with all rookies, except Brandon, one vet. We were pretty worried we were being sent out to some shitty land, but we ended up pulling up to a block of beautiful, creamy soil with fresh furrows!


The weather was great. It was a hot day, but there was a bit of a breeze, so the bugs weren't unbearable. And I had my ipod cranked so I couldn't hear them anyways. That's the worst--just hearing them buzzing all over you. At one point our supervisor, Jon, came walking through my piece, wielding a shovel and an axe. We chatted a bit about the land and then he casually added, "Oh, yeah, and there's a bear." Great! He went on and explained, "I saw something moving in a tree so I looked up a thought, 'Oh look a koala!' and then I realized, 'Bleep! There's no koala's here!' and when I turned around there was a huge mother bear standing on her hind legs 20 feet away!" Even better--a mother bear! So I asked what to do and Jon says, "Well, mother's get kinda aggressive if you get aggressive so...just pull your headphones out and listen for screaming." Aw man! I don't wanna get eaten by a bear today! So I did take my headphones out, and I listened to the symphony of black flies, deer flies, horse flies, and noseeums for the rest of the day. My routine changed a bit too--plant a tree, look around, plant a tree, look around... But, no bears in sight!


We planted a long day, and I planted hard, so I ended up hitting 3k! Last year my PB was 2400, so I was pretty psyched to beat that by a bag-up and a half. I found out later that Jon promised ice cream to anyone who hit 3k, so we stopped in Kek on the way home. That was the best way to end the day for sure!


Sunday was nothing special, but it was relaxing. As a nomad I've had to rely on the good graces of others to get around, and the planters didn't fail. I got a ride into Thunder Bay with Dave, had a place to sleep at Leif's, got picked up to do laundry by Ian, and then spent a few hours climbing Mt. McKay with some of the guys. That was a tough climb, but the view was worth it!


I spent a little while today planning what to cook for the end of the contract. Before I left Jordan bet me $10 that I'd be asked to finish the contract cooking, and sure enough, since it's going so long, the cook has made other plans, and Green Mantle needs a cook. So I'm filling in for the last 3 or 4 days, and I'm pretty excited to whip out some of those great recipes from last year! More fun to come yet this week!


Anyways, time for bed. Peace, friends!





Mt. McKay











My fingers after Day 4. And that's after a shower! I guess you don't need a band-aid when you have a dirt scab!

Adventuring Again

While this is a rather self-indulgent blog since I'm only gone for two weeks, I figured I'd let y'all know what I'm up to now that I'm out of school for the summer.

School finished on Friday. Well, technically Monday, but I go out of it to go planting. Jordan had heard from Brad Geleynse that the crew we planted for last year was going late, and they needed more planters. So Saturday night I booked a flight to Thunder Bay. Very last minute, very unplanned, very adventurous. And very unlike me.

I arrived early Monday morning, and after a few hours, one of the tree runners who was in town for the weekend picked me up at the airport. Barnes was our tree runner last year too, but I didn't know him very well. He had nicknamed me "The Nazi" because of my strict kitchen rules, and quite frankly, I thought he was a bit of scary dude. But we chatted for all four hours of the drive into the bush, and I think he was just glad to have another planter to help finish off the trees.

When I got to camp it was great to see some of the planters from last year...although everyone kept asking "So you're crazy enough to come back, eh?" Everyone was pretty low on morale, since the land had been shitty, the plant was going long, and they'd been far from civilization for a month and a half.

I got set up in a tent from Dave, and while he warned me that it leaked, I brushed it off--I wasn't here to stay warm and dry! I didn't have a mattress, so I slept on the ground, and when it stormed the first night, I found out Dave was right about the leaking. I woke up next to a small lake. I ad enough dry clothes to plant, and heaped all my stuff on the dry side of the tent before heading out for the day. Apparently I'd showed up for one of the crappiest days of planting this season--it rained all day long, and not the nice kind, but the cold kind that gets in your bones and makes you shiver and shake if you stop and stand still. And the land was a little wild--basically were were planting a forest within another forest.And I tweaked my knee within the first three hours. We planted late, and I was soaked to my underwear, but I survived just fine; there was no way I was gonna start complaining after having been there only a day! I got back to camp to find out that my tent had blown over during the day, and that the lake on the floor had been poured onto my sleeping bag and clothes in the process. I'd shown up with one sweater and one pair of pants and after one day I was out of dry clothes. The planters took care of me real well though--Dave fixed me up with a dry sleeping bag, Eric with a sweater and pants, and Brad lent me a dry pair of shoes. After a drink and a smoke on the porch with the boys, it was all better!

That night it was freezing, and although I slept with a t-shirt tied around my head to keep the heat in, I woke up every half hour, wishing it was morning so I could get up and get moving. It finally came, with sun shining, and we headed out to finish off the terrible block. Instead of cold rain, it was really hot, so the bugs were out in full force. I'd forgotten about the bugs... After another late day of planting we got back, and I fell into bed, exhausted. The t-shirt had fallen off last night, so this time I bobby-pinned a pair of underwear on my head like a toque. It worked like a charm! When I woke up in the morning, everything was a bit fuzzy. When I rubbed my eyes I started to see a bit better, but I could only half open my left eye. I felt my cheek, and it was hot and swollen. Turns out I'd been bitten quite a bit by deer flies the day before, and now my face was puffy and swollen. Time to get out the sunglasses!

Thursday's plant was supposed to be our last long day. It was a hotter day, but we ended up finishing quickly, since the land was a lot better(although I got to plant a forest in a forest again). We got back to camp around 4, packed up, jumped in the lake to cool down / shower, and loaded up on the bus. I think swimming in a cold lake after sweating buckets all day ranks on my list of "Top 10 Favourite Things To Do"--such an incredible feeling! The bus ride was long, loud, and bumpy, but we finally rolled back into the shop at midnight. It seems almost everyone had a place to go, but apparently I'm on a kick where I don't plan anything, so I just found a bunk house at the shop that was unlocked, moved around some of the equipment, and had a decent bed for the night. This morning I snuck into the shop to shower, and here I am, sitting in the office waiting to see if I can get a ride into Thunder Bay for food.

Planting is incredibly frustrating, and after some of the stories I heard, I'm glad I wasn't here for the whole contract. But I'm glad I'm here. There's forests and fields everywhere. There's different people. There's very little stress. There's very little planning. I'm sore, but in a good way. I don't care what I wear. I dont' care how I look (although the fact that my face is lopsided bothers me a little bit). I don't care how I smell. I love being covered in dirt! I like the ridiculousness of riding to work on bus that's about to break down. I like working with people who are young and full of enthusiasm. I like the shared misery. I like the laid-back attitude. I like sleeping in a tent.

I don't like planting, but I like being here.

Back at it!

The land

Despite duct-taping my fingers, they took quite a beating on Day 1

Week 5

Man Day (last week): Dorland, one of our tree runners, competing in the Highland Games

The shale/jungle kife. If you could see your feet, it's because there was too much rock for anything to grow there. My thoughts: "You want me to plant trees where...?"

"Baby Daddy" and his baby

Zip

Jordan's a single father...but I do think she's pretty adorable!

Okay, so I know it's tacky to post two blogs in one day, but I found out this weekend that I have a large readership, and I don't wanna disappoint the masses, so here's one more treat for y'all to enjoy. Also, since our boss forgot to leave work for us, we're stranded in Thunder Bay for a couple days without anything to do other than...write blogs. Plus, I'm a little behind, and I have some great photos and stories to share, so without further ado, a recap of week five. Five down, three to go.

Tuesday I was told to plant with Jordan, so I went into his big, crazy-shaped and densely over-grown piece to finish it up with him. My favourite part of pieces that are full of young poplars is that the leaves hold water really well, so if you walk into a piece in the morning after it's rained, within 5 minutes you look like you've been doused by a super-soaker. That's sarcasm. Go figure, Tuesday was the day I decided to take my rain pants out of my day pack because I'd only used them once so far. After getting soaked by the trees, the clouds opened up and we got soaked by the sky as well. All day I could hear my feet squooshing in my boots, and when I got back to my tent at the end of the day, I literally poured water out of them. I think between my boots and my socks, I had a full cup of water in there! When your feet are wet all day, they call it "trench rot", but I have decided to change the name to "swamp foot" because it sounds more ominous. Needless to say, I had swamp foot that day, and my feet were so sore I could barely stand up the next day.

Wednesday we left camp early at 6:30 because we had a really long bus ride to the block. We had also been told to expect to work late. Of course, on top of the long ride, we got lost and didn't end up starting until 10:00, and we were told that we weren't coming home until we planted 85 000 trees. That's almost an impossible number when we have gorgeous land. We thought the land we planted on Tuesday was kife...but we had no idea what was coming. For one, the ground was shale, so it was like planting a gravel driveway all day. For two, the area was so dense and overgrown that at some points I was standing one furrow (6 ft) away from Jordan and couldn't even see him through the trees. It was like planting a jungle! I could rarely see my feet through the leaves, and ended up tripping over logs and slamming my shovel into my own toes all day.

It's a good thing Jordan and I planted together that day, because I think he'd still be lost in the bush if I weren't with him. At one point we bagged out and I started walking back to the cache. I turned around to see Jordan heading in the opposite direction of the road, towards the forest at the back of our piece. I asked him where he was going, and he said, "To our cache", in a "Duh, where do you THINK I'm going?" voice. He makes me laugh.

Thursday was the same piece, the same land, and the same frustration. At one point I got so angry that I fought a tree with my shovel because it stole my hat. I won the battle, but in the process I tripped over a hidden log and fell over backwards. Jordan, the gentleman he is, saw how upset I was, and...no he didn't offer me a hand up. Instead he yelled, "DISHES!" Dishes is a game we play. It's pretty simple: if you see someone fall, you yell "dishes" and then they have to do your dishes that night. I'm terrible on my feet, even in good land, so I did a lot of extra dishes this week.

The day got better around 2:00 though. Jordan and I were going along side-by-side through our shale-filled furrows, playing the alphabet game, when I spotted some creamy brown soil in the middle of the red shale. I went to put my shovel in it, and all of the sudden it moved, scaring the crap out of me. It was a fawn that didn't see us until the last minute, and when it did it got up really fast and darted off through the furrows. Jordan's instinctual reaction to this was completely natural--within seconds he dropped his bags, threw his shovel, and took off running after the deer. I planted a few more trees, and then heard him tearing back through the bush so I turned around to see. And just then he caught it with his bare hands! I couldn't believe it--he was holding up this baby deer, whose legs were dangling incredibly awkwardly as it started bleating loudly for it's mother. At that moment, Jordan realized the mother could come out of the jungle at any point, so he did another completely natural thing--he decided not to put it down, but instead to head for the road to show people and get some photos. We know we're terrible people... We never did see any sign of the mother though, so we'll never know if it was abandoned or not. To make ourselves feel better, we'll say it was, and we saved it. So we showed Matt, who was planting across the road from us, and then our tree runners showed up to see too. After a lot of debate about what would be best for "Zip", we decided to take it back to camp on the bus so Matt's cousins could pick it up and raise it in their backyard, which still had a deer fence from when they used to raise deer. So Eric Wigboldus and Brandon took care of the deer until the bus ride home, during which it sat quietly with Jordan for an hour, and then me for the next hour. Back at the shop we fed it out of a cow bottle that one of Matt's cousins brought, and it guzzled the milk back like it hadn't eaten in days. It was so adorable! And now Zip is happily living at the Haveman's, being doted on by a bunch of kids who are happy to raise her.

And that was our week! That night we packed up our stuff, and had a sleepover in the shop, since we were leaving to catch our flight back to Hamilton early in the morning. We spent an awesome weekend at home, being with the Burgsma family at a wedding on Friday, friends in Hamilton on Saturday, family and friends in Aylmer on Sunday, and then celebrating Jordan's birthday and apartment shopping on Monday. It was a full, but relaxing weekend, and now it's been extended a bit as we wait for the next helicopter out to Black Bay. Word on the street is there's internet up there, so although I might not be able to call home on weekends (sorry Moms), I'll still be able to blog. I'll be sure to put photos up, because right now, Black Bay is as big a mystery to me as it is to you. I'm excited to get there tomorrow and get planting.

Plant trees!!!!

Week 4

Four weeks down, four to go. “Whoa, we’re halfway there, whoa, living on a prayer!”

I wrote this blog last weekend, and didn’t find any time to post it during the week. Although my routine is about to change, since we’ll be isolated in Black Bay for the next three weeks, I’m going to post it anyways, because I found out that Fanny Geleynse likes to read my blog because I explain tree planting better than her boys do. So Mrs. G., this is what my experience has been like, and it’s likely a taste of what your boys have been up to for the past however-many summers. Enjoy!

My alarm goes off at 6:22, and after hitting snooze exactly 3 times, I roll over, mumble “Do I have to?” to Jordan, then put on the exact same clothes as the day before: bright blue pants that are much too big, but too comfy not to wear, a bright red soccer t-shirt, a touque, and three pairs of socks (yes, still in 30 degree weather)—all of which smell like a week’s worth of sweat and swamp water. Delicious.

I brush my teeth in the bushes, and don’t rinse with water because I was too lazy to refill my water bottle…again…so I end up swallowing a mouth full of fluoride. Also delicious.

I put on my boots, fill my water jugs, go pee, make a lunch, and eat breakfast. Always in that order. It’s clear that routine has come to preceed common sense, because every day I make a coffee, and every day I dump it out. This is for two reasons: 1) camp coffee is gross, 2) hot water goes right through me. I’ve only finished my coffee once, and that was the day we got lost on the way to the block and had a 2 ½ hour bus ride. Big mistake—the process of relieving oneself in the block is both time consuming and frustrating when female. Find a hidden spot, take your bags off, make sure a tree-checker hasn’t wandered into your piece, get your toilet paper out, try not to get scratched by slash…I’d rather hold it til 6:00pm. But I digress…

At 7:05 I get on the bus, because I can count on Brandon being 10 minutes late, and as we leave the camp I begin the process of finding my ipod, exchanging my touque for a head scarf (classier than a bandana), putting on 50 SPF sunscreen, and then duct-taping my fingers. Again, always in that order. Brad describes my duct-taping as “meticulous”. I think I like that.

Then I plant trees.

At 5:00 I get back on the bus, eat a snack, and that’s where there’s a bit of surprise in my day—will it be cookies? Or will I choose the orange? Who knows!? Not me…not until snack time. I ride the bus for an hour, sometimes listening to music, sometimes to “A Grief Observed” by C.S. Lewis, and sometimes to Jordan singing Kesha. Again, it’s a chance to mix up the routine a bit, and really depends on my mood. This week I wasn’t in a very good mood, so Kesha was usually out.

We arrive at camp around 6:00, sometimes 7:00, and that’s the best part of the day: dinner. Kristen always greets me with a smile and asks how my day was, and after dinner and dessert, which are always delicious, I go back to the cook shack to sit on the counter and chat with Kristen some more. Even if I had a crappy day I can count on smiling during those few minutes, which sometimes turn into an hour because it’s hard to leave Kristen’s company.

I head to the tent around 9:00 or 10:00, get on my PJs, tie a scarf around my head because it’s bright as noon outside, and fall into bed, exhausted. Then I close my eyes and I hope I don’t dream about planting trees.

At 6:22 it begins all over again.

It sounds monotonous, but I really don’t mind routine. It’s comfortable, and once I’ve convinced myself that all of this—brushing me teeth in the bushes, riding a bus to work, sleeping with a scarf on my face—that it’s all normal, then it’s not so hard to get out of bed in the morning. However, it’s not to say I don’t enjoy the things that stray from the usual. I think those things may have been what kept me from slumping into depression this week. I was feeling a bit under the weather and didn’t plant so well this week, so when I was feeling grumpy and frustrated, the unusual made my days a bit brighter.

Like a bus ride down to the beach on Tuesday night to cool off and wash up.

And a ride into Thunder Bay on Wednesday night, just to get the iced cap I’d been dreaming about all day in the block. Okay, I admit I bought one, and it was so good that I stopped 10 minutes later at the next Tim’s just to buy a second one. Only cost 20 trees…

And celebrating Man Day on Thursday with steak, beer chugging, and Highland games.

And…well Friday was just a bad day.

And celebrating Graduation Day on Saturday. Since we couldn’t be home for grad, Jordan, Kristen, Greg (Kristen’s boyfriend who flew down for the weekend) and I went out for dinner at the Keg on Saturday night. Ritzy! Also, during the day, since I forgot my ipod, I made up the Graduation Day song , which I sang at the top of my lungs across the block to Tim and Brett, who were also missing grad. I sang it to everyone who would listen, and though I can’t sing it to you, I will share the lyrics because…well, dang, I’m just the next best thing in the song-writing world. Please sing this song to whatever tune you choose, and imagine it being sung as it was meant—as loud as possible, and only occasionally on key:

Happy Graduation Day

You just received your BA

Or maybe it’s a BSc

Either way it’s a degree!

You are smart now all will know

‘Cause you’ll have a diploma to show

But not for another 4 weeks

‘Cause you’re a sucker planting trees!

To all my recently graduated friends—congratulations! I spent a lot of time on Saturday digging up fond memories from the past 5 years and Redeemer, and feeling pride that we made it through all the papers, exams, early morning classes, and late night cram sessions. And we made it because we had each other. So thanks for being there to share in the school stuff, and even better, all the other stuff that keeps us sane. University has been a blessing, and you are all a huge part of that. Cheers to the future, my friends!