Christian vegetables and beer don't really mix

i still have 10 days before grad school starts, but tonight was the end of the summer in a way. it was the last night hanging with my pool friends. and our crew has grown smaller and smaller! courtney, marybeth, kari and i went to austin's for a drink (we literally cleaned out our wallets on the one bottle of beer we each bought) and then came back to kari and my apartment (yes, both of ours! kari officially moved in today!) for another drink. we sat around the newly decorated living room and played "don't sink in the sink," my veggie tales board game for kids ages 4-10. (for those of you who don't know, veggie tales is a kids cartoon with Christian values and bible stories acted out by vegetables. marketed for kids, but sometimes i think it's made for not-so-little-kids... like me.) quote of the night by courtney: "yeah, i think Christian vegetables and beer don't really mix" after we bemused how funny the simple game would be to play wasted. haha. but no, two drinks each and we were all definitely sober.

odd to have ended the summer playing such a silly game. but it was fun and relaxing. and then we watched some veggie silly songs and said goodbye to our 6th summer hanging out as adler pool staff. in a few days becca (who was absent this evening!) goes back to her teaching job, courtney moves to depere, wi to start her new teaching job, marybeth returns to college in san diego, i will start grad school, and everyone else is already gone. it's so strange to think of the possibility of summer without adler pool, without this group of people, who not only might never work at the pool again (one does need a "real" job sooner or later... or maybe not a real one, just a new one) but also might not ever live in the same town again. it feels like the end of an era.

it's been a good summer, for sure... grill 21 where after 3 long islands our boss whined "but i'm not ready to leave yet!"; mickey finn's where we met for a drinks before the last night of swim lessons and our staff party; austin's where we won dave matthews tickets; austin's again where our supervisor joined us, had a drink with staff for the first time, and asked us who had been skinny dipping at riverside (the smaller l'ville pool) a few years ago, to which we replied, "a few years ago?" and then told her all our stories; courtney's party where liz, who doesn't drink, poured herself a few too many and insisted during a game of "i never" that she has never been drunk and was not going to put a finger down; the dave concert where i fell down the stairs and scraped my foot, marybeth made out with a guy the whole show, and courtney spent the evening in the bathrooms; tyedying "the top 10 reasons you've worked at adler pool too long" tshirts in my kitchen; watching the cubs game and the olympics at friday's bar, and getting way too excited about the swimming relays; sunday night bowling and making bets on who had to wear pal t penguin (the old nasty pool mascot) next week, even though we brought the suit twice and no one ever wore it...

what a long, strange trip it's been...