End of Year Sayre Dinner

Classes ended Friday. We’re now in the study period; exams begin tomorrow morning. On a 1-to-10 scale, the stress level around here is about a 10. On a 1-to-10 scale, the need for some TLC and homey-comfort-food is about a 10.

These students-friends-neighbors of ours have captured our hearts this year. And we will miss them so much when they go… which is… fast approaching. The rule is that they must move out within 24 hours of the completion of their last exam; and everyone must be gone by May 9th. I get a little bit weepy thinking about it (seriously, I do), and I know the bambinos struggle greatly with the Move Out. The sentimental end-of-year emotions have begun to ramp up.

So, tonight, we hosted an End of Year Dinner for Sayre residents.

They came. And they came hungry. About 60 of these beautiful-people-that-we-have-the-privilege-of-knowing showed up with huge smiles on their faces and so many ‘Thank You’s’ — if nothing else, these students appreciate good food. And they appreciate too a little oasis — a little homey home, a big hug, some comfort food, some kids to make them laugh, a puppy to pet — these things allow them to escape the stress, if even for a brief hour in their week. And the fact that we live with them makes it so easy in so many ways.

My gosh do we ever love these people.

They overflowed our tiny apartment and started bringing their plates of food into the lounge.

Our family of five has come to love these Sayre gatherings. Over the past two years we’ve hosted many of them. We’re learning more and more all the time about how to do these things; how to make them easy for us and for the students. We’re getting better at it as we go. At this point, they don’t feel like a hassle for us at all — but instead, they feel truly enjoyable.

Of course, I have to acknowledge the fact that Lehigh Catering makes it so darn easy for us. The food tonight was so good. And so plentiful: green beans with mushrooms, real mac-n-cheese, meatloaf with tomato gravy, buttermilk fried chicken with sage gravy… two sets of all of it (there were two pans of everything you see below)… and everything went.

Plus salad, bread, apple pie (5 oversized pies!), ice cream… gone. If there is one thing I’ve learned in the past two years it is this: college students can eat, and they don’t want cheap pizza and pasta— they want real, good food. And you know what? These amazing kids who ate it up?… they deserve it… and they appreciate it. I love feeding them.

It was a bittersweet ending to a great 2nd year in Sayre. The next 10 days will be a bit emotional for the J-Ms as we watch our neighbors move out. Some of them will graduate, some will go off for Study Abroad, some will live elsewhere on-or-off-campus next year, and some will return to Sayre. But we know that, no matter what, the end of the academic year is the end of a definitive chapter for us.

We’re learning to turn the pages, and anticipate the next chapter, and remember so fondly the previous chapters — but we’re also pretty good at enjoying the chapter that we’re in. So, we celebrate the end of the year, but I know I speak for all of us when I say that I have a little lump in my throat choking back tears as I think about all that we’ve come to love this year, and all that we will miss.

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A big thank you to Lehigh Catering for another year of fabulous food in Sayre.

And a big thank you to Lehigh’s Office of Residence Life for funding another year of excellent events in Sayre.