Reflections.

This journal is going on a year old now. I start writing last winter, while I was living in Beaverton, taking my stats course in the Grove, and volunteering over at a pediatrics PT clinic in Hillsboro. A few days I was awaken with the pleasant surprise of snow! This meant going to play in the snow with the Scarlett, the puppy, drinking hot cocoa, and watching movies. :) Incredible experiences rocked my world in the year since then, both positively and negatively. My horizons have been broadened in so many ways. *On a large scale, I experienced firsthand living in another part of the world. This catalyzed my desire to keep exploring. The world and its people intrigue me. *I have laid down roots in a third place; I feel as if a part of me is in each of these places. *I cannot describe how it feel to have family in a new place and develop such a strong relationship. *The experience of seeing new life and watching her develop is breathtaking. *For the first time, I had moments where I felt completely unconnected to the world around me. I knew nobody. I felt alone. It only took me a few hours to begin meeting new people in my apartment complex and within the first week, friendships were developing which are still active (or as active as can be despite the distances). *I met a beautiful individual who demonstrated how to live and love life..."que el pan"...the room brightens whenever this person is around. *I learned to value each day, each hour. What if I were to die tomorrow? Would I have regretted holding back today? Don't hold back. *I also experienced falling in and out of love. As easy as it is to curse love and say that is sucks....it doesn't. It is a beautiful thing. It's the hurt that occurs when you open yourself up. When one is truly in love, he or she is completely vulnerable! Despite how close you think you are to somebody, you never know what the person is actually thinking or feeling, regardless of what their words or actions. I guess it's true what they say, that is is better to have loved and have lost, than to have never loved at all. It makes life more interesting at least. ;)

Now, I'm laying on my bed in VV111. For once, I don't hear raindrops hitting the pavement outside. A Civil Rights book is sitting on my windowsill, which I should be reading. It is unbelievable that I will be graduating in May. In April I will be presenting my two senior projects. In March Inga and I will be driving down for a cali-style spring break. Next week, my Oma arrives for a week of exploring Oregon for the first time. Time is counting down. Everything is happening in the blink of an eye. After graduation, I am heading down to the Peruvian Amazon for a 3-week service project. I want to see the world; I want to make an impression, even if it is just upon one person. After that, there is no plan. For the first time, there is not yet a plan...and it excites me! In the summer, I will live back in Cali? Up here? In the fall, I will go back to Germany? To So Cal? To Portland? To Sac? Questions which time will answer. But a new chapter will definitely begin. New people will enter my life, but my real friends will not leave my side, nor I them, regardless of time and distance. And now...I'm getting myself caught in what I do best...the big p...procrastination, that is. Back to the book...