it's a family affair

Yowza. This word continues to enter my vocabulary lately, I like it!
My last fall semester came to a close in early December with the graduation of some really wonderful friends from Berry. Standing in my townhouse with my housemates Amanda and Emily, as I closed the door behind my roommate (of 4 years), Kimmy, emotions flooded unintentionally. I leaned against the door and felt my eyes fill and my mind wander into what would happen next. The three of us had an unforgetable moment of real life -- A handful of tears, a million laughs, and all in a split-second's time. I hadn't realized until that exact moment how much I was going to miss Kimmy, and what her leaving meant for my time remaining at Berry. In May I will be closing the door behind myself with no one left inside our empty townhouse - this book is closing and I want to remember every moment I've spent and every ounce of knowledge I have gained.

Over this Christmas/Winter break I have realized this grandeur dream is quite impossible. I took the charge (that I gave myself) to clean out my belongings and trim down what I have in my possession and for some reason among that stuff were my course materials from all of my Berry classes freshman year. I was glancing over things I had learned and the notes I had written and sadly recognized that the things I learned three years ago have not stuck entirely. A sigh was released, and then I accepted it. Eh - oh well, just gives me more room in that brain of mine to learn new things!

I've had the opportunity to spend this past semester and this holiday season with people that I consider my family and that I love dearly. They know who they are and it would take way more time than we have here to mention them all - I'm just thankful for it!

As of right now I'm spending my free time investigating where I'm going to be heading after graduation in the Spring. Life goals as we know it are: minister to youth inside and outside of the wilderness, teach them outdoor adventure skills that I love that they don't normally get the chance to experience, connect loving and encouraging adults with growing youth to form positive relationships based on honesty, overall growth, and spiritual exploration... Those are just some very important things that I want my "dream job" later on to include. As of right now, if I can fins something that relates to any of that it would be great, but really I'm looking to experience new places, learn new things, meet new people, and somehow get paid while doing all of the above here and there =)