To many of us, Judson has become our home. Well, not technically our home where mom and dad live, but someplace that we have made into a home for ourselves with friends. When I first thought about coming home for the summer after spending the entire school year away, I was excited. I thought, "man I get to see all of my friends, go out to the movies (which we all know that we don't have anything like that in Marion), or even go shopping." Sure I've had fun this summer, I even got a job that's not just babysitting, but I find myself missing school and my friends. I have begun a countdown to the days that I long for with my best friends.
In so many ways I cannot express how much I miss the Bubble. Why call it a Bubble? Well, when you look at the town of Marion, Alabama, the population really isn't that big. We don't even have a Walmart, however, we do have a Fred's, Dollar General and Family Dollar. In case we ever got bored, we would go to one of these places and just walk around. Judson is its own force field. We really don't communicate with other people and when we do, it's with those people that are around us. I texted a friend the other night and was so excited that I didn't have a curfew next semester because then we could take a late night drive to our local fast food restaurant (McDonald's of Selma) to get some chicken nuggets. I cannot express to you how happy we both were.
Judson is home. Judson is also a Bubble. We have this stated to us on numerous occasions. We even post this on social media sometimes that we miss the Bubble. The Bubble is a place that we feel that we can be who we are and find ourselves as adults. Judson has become a home I love so much that I don't ever want to be away from the Bubble. We get inspirational canvases where I work, and one day we got one in that said, "Here's to the nights that turned into mornings and the friends who turned into family." I love this quote so much because it does remind me of the Judson Bubble and all of my friends who have turned into family. I text my best friend from school probably every other day just to see how she is doing. It also helps that my best friend is my big sister. We complain about how much we miss the Bubble and what we are going to do next semester, which involves late night ice cream and probably some Netflix binge watching, with a few crying sessions included.
Remember this, guys: we have come to the Bubble not expecting anything and turned out making lifelong friends. No matter if it's playing dirty Santa at Christmas, or buying a few things for a foreign exchange student, we have all come to love our little Bubble that we call Judson.
