i keep asking myself...

...why? After I graduated from NAU I was only home a short time before I ran off for an adventure in DC. I left with some intention of returning so I never really went through all of my stuff that I was leaving behind. I told myself that I would take care of it after I got back. It's been over 2 1/2 years since I first left and I am now having to face the annoyance which is my stuff. I have boxes of papers and notebooks from college courses, trinkets from who knows what and a healthy assortment of fuzzy photographs dating back to middle school.

I started going through it the other night in hopes of finding my college diploma. You may ask, as a friend of mine did, how did I manage to lose my diploma? Funny thing, I had never actually seen it. NAU sent it to my parents house while I was in DC and I only came home once over the last 2 1/2 years and I couldn't find it then. I knew that I was going to eventually go through all my stuff and a desire to see my diploma gave me the motivation I needed to get started.

I started pulling open boxes to reveal the oddest hodgepodge of things. For a couple of hours the other night I was constantly saying to myself "Why the heck did I keep this?" or while looking at a picture "Why did I even think this was cool?" There were a few things that when discovered brought back some fun memories. Like the photo of me and my good friend from high school dressed like hos for our senior class 'Pimp and Ho Day'. A day that inadvertently created quite a stir from some of the parents of the underclassmen.

Last night I had gone through all of my boxes without finding my diploma. I was reaching a point of frustration. Well, in the same room where my boxes have been kept are also boxes belonging to my younger sister. My mom walked into the room and started going through my sisters stuff and within minutes had found what I had spent hours looking for, my college diploma. She was certainly smug about her ability to find it so quickly, I just wanted to know what it had been doing in my sisters stuff. When I had given it a quick once over, reminiscing about the good ol' college years I put it back in a box and continued organizing. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized irony of what had just happened. I had just spent the better part of a day looking for it only to put it away once it was found. What does one do with their college diploma? Is it meant to live in a box?

It's actually been a really good experience going through all my stuff. I've been able to purge myself of things that I've been keeping since high school. I think its all part of the growing up process, saying goodbye to your younger self and looking forward with an open mind and as little baggage as possible.

saying goodbye

I am leaving France tomorrow. I can't believe the time has come, it seems like I've been here forever. It has been an incredible 8 1/2 months. I've learned, experienced, and seen a lot. I am thankful for all of it and I will never forget any of it.


I went to dinner at a friends last night. After saying goodbye, as I was walking to the car, I caught myself thinking about the French word for goodbye, "au revoir". Directly translated it implies that you will one day see each other again. I know that someday I will make it back to this part of the world and see those that I have come to call friends.


So this is my fianl post from France. Don't think that just because I am returning to the States I am going to stop blogging though. I will continue through the next adventure, you never know what life has in store.

happy new year

It's already the 4th and I am just now getting around to posting a new years message. Lame, I know...but first things first, Christmas...

Christmas was fantastic. Three years ago I had my first Christmas away from home. When I was first faced with that prospect, I was pretty depressed. I had always been able to go home to my parents for the holiday and not going was an adjustment. It turned out to be a great Christmas and the two since then have also been away from home but they were just as good.

We left France early the morning of the 20th. It wasn't snowing but it was -16 Celsius and we were most definitely going to run into snow and ice along the way. It was along trip, 9 hours total with heavy snow and a detour along the way. We thankfully didn't have any trouble crossing the Channel and I made all my trains to Bath. Ada and her husband, Bryce, arrived the next day from Japan. The days leading up to Christmas were filled with secret shopping trips and yummy food. We also went to the Roman Baths (third visit for me) and we took a train to a nearby village to get pub food. I realized once again that you don't have to be "home" for Christmas. If I am with family it feels like home.

My New Years was quiet as usual. We stayed up and watched the fireworks in London on TV and then went to bed. There were some noisy neighbors but for the most part things were pretty subdued. I gave more thought to resolutions than I usually do. I've always kind of been against making resolutions as I never seem to keep them but in the last year or so I've learned that if I set a goal and work hard I can achieve what I set out to do.

I have one major goal this year and I've decided the more people I tell the more people will keep me accountable. I want to run a full marathon, I'm thinking Baltimore in October. That's right, 26.2 miles of pure torture. So my faithful blog readers, you are now charged with making sure that I stick to my goal!