Third Year Memories

I feel like I went running straight into summer with no real transition from school. There were no days at the beach, no break from work, no change of location...and it made me realize how necessary that transition is. Going somewhere different at the beginning of the summer (for the last two it was Hilton Head) gives you a chance to realign my thoughts, think about the past year, and maybe make a few goals for the summer -- you know, what books to read, that kind of stuff. (Although last summer my goal was to learn to do the worm. And I did.)

The point is, I need to pause life for a moment, to think, to appreciate and to anticipate. the lovely Kate Kronau's blog (so beautiful and so vulnerable -- the blog and the girl) inspired me to do just that for a moment and just remember all that happened this past school year -- because it was a full one. 

Thus, some third year memories (in no particular):

• Tuesday lunches (and Thursday fallback lunches)
• Country dancing in Texas with my bff
• Wedding dress shopping with my sister
• My family's new house in Crozet! (And Easter lunch with everyone there)
• Watching the girls in the small group I lead grow during our second year together! (So many challenges, but soooo many blessings)
• Christmas in Kenya
• Emceeing for Agape
• Getting my nose pierced
• Laying across Kathleen's lap as she repierced my third hole with a safety pin, Parent Trap style
• Glee at the Octagon
• A long, long winter
• Brittney's Disney princess birthday party/Halloween (and dressing up as Ariel)
• Learning to cling to God's promises
• 2 hour & 45 minute Curry classes
• Carrying a giant paper chain down 14th street
• Grassy Knoll picnics
• The Great Jungle Juice Flood of '11 (10 minutes before our small group was about to start)
• Getting rear-ended as I was about to turn into my driveway...and getting the car fixed/dealing with insurance/driving to Pennsylvania on a not-fully-fixed car
• Football games (girls in pearls!)
• Hilton Head and Charleston with Hope and Allie
• Walking to class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Margaret, Monique and Abby
• Thanksgiving dinner with the Mangrove
• Realizing time and time again how much I fail and how much God comes through
• Sitting on the porch swing at 206
• Para Coffee
• Being the designated driver for sooo many 21st birthdays (my time will come soon enough...)
• Joshua Radin and Brooke Fraser concerts!
• A ton of job interviews, a ton of rejections, and finally starting a job

...And so many other things.

And now Madeline and I are off to Wal-Mart to buy world maps and then we are going to fingerpaint.