Reflections

I've been thinking a lot about how my life has changed in the past 1.5 years.

In the spring of 2008, before I moved back to Norfolk to go to ODU, I was fully immersed in the Williamsburg way. I woke up early each morning, heading to Jamestown High School while watching the sun rise over the river. I used to get a rush just crossing over the building's threshhold as I looked up and spotted students that I knew, greeting them with an automatic, easy smile.

My day was filled with much of the same. After hanging out in Sherlanda's Spanish class or sitting with the secretaries in the guidance office eating chocolate and listening to them gossip about just about everyone in town, lunchtime would roll around and I would saunter into the cafeteria to see who I could see.

After visiting each of the four lunch periods and poking my head into the PE classes, I'd transverse the hallways one more time to make sure everyone was happy and healthy. Then, I'd either get the gym ready for basketball practice or head to class at WM or both. My day would end in the JHS gym, a walk through Colonial Williamsburg, or a visit to the cemetery with a friend. Can you believe I got paid for this?

Now, as of summer 2008, I'm in the doctoral student world of wonders at ODU. My days consist of getting myself, my house, my husband, and my dog organized in the mornings. Meanwhile I'll write, research, check my email a million times, and daydream about an easy dissertation journey. Then, it's off to campus to meet with professors or doc students or to supervise Master's students. I'll sit in class thinking about how to change the world (or, um, about how id rather be at home with my husband and my dog). On a day with variety, I'll present at a conference, visit schools in Newport News, or stay holed up in the library for some reason or another. Overall, much of my focus is on my pending future, mainly about how I'm going to pull off this dissertation and if it's all really going to be worth it in the end. And then there's the whole marriage thing, which is wonderful, by the way.

While I feel like I've jumped from two different worlds, I can't say that one is better than the other. It's amazing how life can change so quickly. I am trying to concentrate and focus on being thankful for both experiences and in awe of the blessings that I have recieved at this moment in time, as HE has made everything perfect in HIS time. Isn't that hopeful?

**Inspired by a lovely conversation with the lovely Ms. Abby Weitz