Girl Power and the Great State of NJ

So here I am back in the Garden State AKA Dirty Jersey AKA home of the Jersey Shore AKA home of the Rutgers Volleyball Team. Normally I save the mushy for talking to my dog but hey! every once in awhile you simply have to give it up for good old fashioned girl power. I got back to New Jersey on Monday to find myself coaching camps until Wednesday so I didn't actually get a chance to see all my teammates minus the ones I have class with until today. But camps were actually a really great time to reflect on all my friendships back at home, most of them the result of playing volleyball. Funny how it's just a sport, but it has been so much more in my life. Volleyball has not only kept me sane in the crazy times but also introduced me to some of the greatest girls there are out there. Volleyball is so much a part of my life, even Julia and I found time to "pepper" out on the East Cape in Cabo.



But, I digress. Girl Power. With my first full day off since I got back to Rutgers, my teammates and I found ourselves on the way to Belmar Beach to try and catch a few rays before the weekend. We all went to lift together and then hightailed it down Route 18, with a slight stop for Wawa subs. It might have been the sun, it might have been the amazing sandwiches(I literally cannot say enough good things about Wawa!), but more I think it was that we were all so glad to finally be back together.


Spending hours on end in a aircondition-less(there I go making up words again...) gym and even more on the road can drive any group of girls to fight, yet for us I think the time has made us closer. We are as different in personality as is humanly possible but we fit, we fight, and we figure it all out. So tonight I am simply basking in the glory that is girl power. As I sat on the beach and listened to the various conversations going on, from weddings to diet soda to summer love, I could not have been more happy to be somewhere. And now as I sit in my apartment, surrounded by three more of my teammates, and on the phone with several more I am thankful for how this summer has ended up. Sure, New Jersey could be slightly less humid, and I would rather do something more productive than watch a video in Biology about coral intercourse, but this has finally become a home away from home. For that I am even more thankful.

So for those of you who are reading this, I encourage you all to be thankful as well. Give thanks for second chances, we ALL deserve them. Be thankful for good eats(I had to throw food in there). Be gracious toward sunny days. There should be gramercy for the good and almost perfectly imperfect people we love, boys included(especially Adam who hangs out with my girlfriends and teammates more than I deserve). But most of all, for the girls and teammates out there, I personally am beholden, content, grateful, gratified, indebted, much obliged, pleased, and satisfied with good ole fashioned girl power. And of course RUVB.

Off to Boston now...for a fun weekend of history, new places, great eats, and east coast touring!