Page 4 of Love and Other Chances

Joy laughs, crinkling the corners of her brown eyes. “Whew, that sounds like a lot! I’m glad that you’re back. Want to go get a donut from the lobby? I’m starving.”

I agree, and we make our way out of the church sanctuary. “There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about,” Joy says as we pick out donuts. “Caleb and I are starting a new small group with young twenty-somethings this year. I know you’re busy leading lots of Bible study groups with students, but I would love it so much if you’d consider joining us. You wouldn’t have to do any prep work—just show up and be with us!”

That eye-burning sensation is back, and I seriously need it to stop showing up. I smile widely at Joy, hoping it will distract her from noticing the sheen of moisture in my eyes. “I would really love to be a part of the group, Joy. This is kind of an answer to prayer. Do you know when you’ll be meeting?”

“We’re thinking Wednesday evenings, although we might do some fun social events on weekends sometimes. Would that work in your schedule? I was hoping that since your Arrow meetings are on Thursdays and the Greek houses have chapter meetings on Wednesdays, you might be more available that evening,” Joy says.

“Wow, you remember all that? And you planned the group around my schedule?” I ask, wide-eyed.

Joy laughs. “I told you, I really want you to join us. I know you’re a busy woman, so I tried to make it work for you. What do you think?”

The warmth of Joy’s smile saturates my heart and gradually spreads through my body. I’m taken aback by her thoughtfulness, her effort to include me. That’s usuallymyjob.

“Yes. I’ll make it work, no matter what. Thanks so muchfor asking me,” I reply.

“Ah! I’m so glad!” Joy exclaims. “We’re planning to start next Wednesday evening with a social night for everyone to start getting to know each other. I’ll text you our address.”

As she walks away to find Caleb, I inhale deeply, feeling my lungs expand more fully than they have all week. With classes starting tomorrow and our first weekly Arrow meeting of the year on Thursday, it’s sure to be a hectic week. But I already feel more calm knowing I have this small group social to look forward to.

Find peers who are just friends and not coworkers or mentees—check!

Chapter two

The first week of class is always a marathon run at sprint speed for our staff team. We’re focused on meeting new students by spending extra time on campus, helping freshmen feel welcome at Townsend, and easing their anxiety about starting college.

Throughout the week, the notes app on my phone fills up with dozens of entries like “Samantha, brown hair AOPi, third floor of Boyd Hall, from Wichita, likes skiing and hot tea.” It’s the only way I can hope to keep track of all the faces and names.

This is typically my week to shine—welcoming people and figuring out how to make their lives more fun is one of my favorite pastimes. Coming into the week on the verge of a burnout breakdown has put a damper on my sparkle, though. But whenever that overwhelmed sensation starts to take over, I let my mind fly away to the church small group social that I’m anticipating.

Thursday night brings our first large-group Arrow meeting. It’s pretty much a church service tailored specifically to college students. There’s worship music, a message designed to help everyone grow in their faith, and lots of socializing. Ever since my senior year of college, I’ve been in charge of planning the After Party following the weekly meeting—a fun activity or special location for Arrow students to hang out and have fun.

There are several favorite activities or restaurants around town that we cycle through, but it’s been a personal challenge to come up with new andmorefun ideas for the first After Party each year. Unfortunately, I outdid myself last year planning a massively popular glow paint war at City Park. I’m worried that people will be expectingsomething even more epic this year—the year that my creative social juices have been running dry. If so, they’ll be disappointed when they find out we’ve rented out the bowling alley in the basement of the student union, exactly like I did my senior year of college.

I’m trying not to fixate on the potential disappointment as I help set up chairs before the meeting begins. The band is rehearsing, and the new Maverick City Music song they’re trying out has me singing along and calming down.

I head out to the lobby of the student union to make sure the welcome team is ready to go with name tags, and I see Rachel come in pushing her double stroller. Kent and Rachel have been the directors of Arrow at Townsend for the past decade, even before I was a student here. They had their first baby this summer—surprised to find out they were having not one, but two. The twins were healthy but spent a couple of weeks in the NICU to grow a little bigger before they could go home.

Rachel’s lack of consistent sleep has meant I haven’t seen much of her the past month, so I’m extra excited to see her here with the twins tonight. I rush over to greet her with a huge hug.

“Oh my goodness, look at their adorable mini headphones!” I exclaim, cooing over the tiny sleeping babies in the stroller.

“They’re adorable when they’re sleeping. Now if only they’d do more of it!” Rachel sighs. “Speaking of sleep, I wanted to ask you a favor. I know I usually lead the morning leadership book study for the senior girls, but I was hoping you could do it this year, at least for this fall semester? I don’t think I’ll be functional enough to lead them well.”

“Of course I can!” I respond, forcing my usual enthusiasm into my voice. “I’d love to spend time with those girls.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Teegan. So glad we have you on the team,” Rachel says appreciatively. Just then, the first wave of students arrives at the meeting, and all the girls swarm around us to get their first glimpse of the twins. I back away from the group, using the fact that all the attention is on the babies as an opportunity to retreat to the restroom.

I’m alone, so I talk out loud to myself in the mirror. “This is great, Teegan! You love those senior girls! They were your little freshman babies your first year on staff—how special to get to end their collegeyears with them! This is going to be so much fun! Sure, early mornings are hard for you, but you can do anything in the name of having a good time with people!”

The door starts to open, so I quickly clam up and pretend I’m washing my hands. I need to get back out to the lobby anyway because I promised Lana I’d watch out for Sofia tonight. Sofia was one of the English Language Learner students Lana tutored through an after-school program in the Brooklyn school district, starting when Sofia was just a sixth grader. Now, she’s starting as a freshman at Townsend, which officially makes me feel old.

I greet students in the lobby while keeping an eye out for Sofia. She’s still living at home with her parents, so she may not have had as many opportunities to meet new friends.

A few minutes before the meeting begins, I see Sofia come up the stairs, laughing with a group of six other girls. So much for not meeting new friends yet. Considering how Lana used to describe Sofia’s spunky personality, I shouldn’t be surprised.

I wave to Sofia, and she runs forward to hug me, despite us only having met a couple of times. “Teegan!” she exclaims. “It’s so fun to see you! Have you talked to Lana lately? How’s she doing?”

Smiling, I tell Sofia, “It’s good to see you too! And Lana’s doing great. I mean, she’s in the thick of her final year of law school, which is apparently the hardest, but you know Lana. She’ll meet the challenge head-on.”

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