Thursday, December 30, 2010

My Year 2010 in Review


Well here we are at the end of a marvelous year. This was a year of change, a year or new adventures, a year of goodbyes and a year of hellos. What a year it has been.
            It is hard to believe that just one year ago I was a senior in high school with absolutely no idea where I would be in the next six months. Well, I can honestly say, one year later, that I know I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.
            Last January and February I was just trying to figure out who I was and where I was going. March Kairos (a retreat at my high school) gave me the opportunity to really examine my life and answer that question with “I don’t know, but I’m not worried.”
            April was a whirlwind as I visited colleges and made a decision as to where I would be going in the fall.
            May was probably my favorite month. I said goodbye to high school. I said goodbye to the comfort and security of knowing everyone and everything about my small community. I said goodbye to an amazing four years filled with a few life challenges, a lot of fun, and incredible friends.
            As I threw my purple graduation cap into the night sky with my 137 fellow classmates, I was symbolically throwing my childhood behind me, and I did it with a smile. It was certainly bittersweet.
            May was a month of celebration and reflection. We celebrated my past, my future and a huge milestone in life, one I will never forget.
May turned to June, which turned to July. Those summer months I worked at a job I loved because of the people I worked with and had fun with. I also enjoyed the months as a time when I was still a child on summer vacation, but in the back of my mind I was anticipating something bigger.
August was a month of waiting and transitioning. I was getting used to the idea of moving across the country to start something brand new.
September threw me right into that change. I met so many new people and discovered new things about myself. I thought that once I got to college I would be a whole new person. What I found out for the next few months was that I was still and will always be me.
I made some great friends, had a number of laughs and realized that hey, I’m living in a big old city and sometimes high school never really does end as much as we’d like it to. But life goes on and often times, it is only what we make it.
So for your enjoyment I have made a slideshow of my year 2010. It was fun to watch as my life transitioned from high school senior with friends of a lifetime to a college freshman with new friends and experiences.
This year was one of change, of goodbyes to the life I knew, and hello to a life I chose. I became a person of new perspectives, and I can definitely feel myself growing up. I became a better version of who I was one year ago. Thank you to all of you who helped me reach that potential.
So what will 2011 bring? I can’t wait to find out! Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Season's Greetings from Boston


Everyone buys their baby a “Baby’s first Christmas” ornament, in fact, I still have mine, but maybe they should make a “College student’s first Christmas” ornament.
            This ornament, at least for me, would need to say quite a lot. It would need to be symbolic of every emotion not just the Christmas season can bring for a college student, but also every emotion I experienced the past four months.
            We’ll begin with Christmas, though, to start simple. As everyone returned from Thanksgiving break, the Christmas carols came on, the door decorations went up and the gift buying frenzy began.
I too got into the Christmas spirit; however, it was different than it had ever been in years past. Of course the shopping was fantastic in the city. With just about any store you can think of a T ride from my dorm, I was in Christmas shopping heaven.
But I miss the Colorado snow (and I think most Coloradoans do too this year). I miss the smell of the pine tree in my living room (lucky for me, my parents are waiting to put up the tree with me). I miss the lights in my neighborhood (especially the Santa and reindeer lights outside my own bedroom window). I miss baking Christmas lemon squares, peanut butter chestnuts, toffee and fudge with my mom (she better have some ready when I get home). I miss the Christmas quilt that hangs from our banister and shaking the gifts that appear under the tree.
Absence certainly does make the heart grow fonder. Last year, I did not want to bother with the lights on the tree, put up the Nativity scene or wrap the several gifts my mother bought for others. Now, I miss those traditions. So for a college student who misses home anyway, Christmas is the perfect time to head home for the holidays.
So that ornament should be a heart to stand for the place in my heart I hold my home.
This past semester I went from scared and anxious, to excited and surprised, to angry and hurt, to homesick and nostalgic, to accepting of the whole experience.
I have come a long way since Aug. 30. I am excited to head home for three weeks, but I also think I will miss school. I will miss my friends and the city.
So that heart ornament should also have the Boston skyline, perhaps a husky (my school mascot) and a periwinkle purse (an inside joke between me and my friends).
Goodbye Boston, have a wonderful Christmas without me. I’ll be in my lovely home state of Colorado where God can give me a white Christmas (fingers crossed). I will be back before long and we can have even more adventures in the spring. 
Me and some friends, Chelsea and Kait, at the Christmas tree in Boston Commons.
 Merry Christmas!