Hold Tight

...I'm still here...just busy. 

         Best, 

                Anne

You can be better than you are, you could be swingin' on a star

"It is in all of us to defy expectations, to go into the world and to be brave.  To want, to need, to hunger for adventures.  To embrace change and chance and risk so that we may breathe and know what it is to be free."

Graduation is next Saturday.  I haven't had much of a chance to think about the actual graduation part.  Between working over 40 hours per week, telling my family to hurry up and arrive, packing and moving out of two houses and into zero houses, planning a road trip, and running, I've almost forgotten that graduation is actually coming up.  

To me, graduation means a lot of things.  It's one last chance to be an undergrad.  I get to see the people I went to school with before our roads take us in different directions.  I'll have a B.S. and, well, that's kinda fun!  It will finally be time to put the final piece in the college puzzle and see the hard work and effort to understand the entire picture. 

Lately I've learned the popular question when graduation is coming up is "are you going to go back to school?"  I've also learned to think about my response in my head before blurting out "going back?  I'm not even out yet!  I don't want to go back to school. I want to work."  Sure, it would be great to have a Master of Public Health.  While I'm at it, I've heard Harvard has a decent program.  I think I'll give that a whirl.  The thing is, I do not want to go back to school (...yet).  Can I tell you why before you shake your head thinking that my potential goes beyond an entry-level health education job?  Okay, I'm guessing you aren't doing that...but it's not like I'm pulling these experiences out of nowhere!  I have been to five schools in my life.  Make that six, if you count Learning Tree preschool (where my premature knowledge of needle nose pliers far out shined the others).  So...five schools...sure, whatever.  Who cares?   I mainly care about the last three.   Attending three different schools in one's undergrad career can take a serious toll on one's mental health.  I mean, all of those transcripts, applications, orientations, credits, and teachers add up.  Here's the thing.  Sometimes it takes me a few tries to find the best fit.  For my mental health and happiness.  Speaking of health, that was the one consistent factor in my college career.  I knew I had to be in the health field.  Since I didn't want to be a nurse, and since I suck at anatomy, I picked Community Health.  Technically, Community Health picked me (and 17 other health lovers like me).  Even still, health is my best fit.  Thankfully, that is one constant.  

So when I think about not having to prepare for school in the fall, I sigh with exhaustion and relief.  I know my best fit will be working for awhile.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll miss buying textbooks and writing in a fresh planner and spending 70% of the day studying.  Until that time, I will enjoy graduation and not look too far ahead, because let's face it...four years ago I never thought I'd be here.  I was just hoping to graduate someday...

       Best,
               Anne

Slow down.

           Best, 

                   Anne

Eye owe you.

I'm thankful that I have vision.  This post goes out to all the opthalmologists who made it possible!  Eye couldn't do it without you!

          Best,
                 Anne

Ms. Take

If there is one thing I know to be true about you and I, it's that we make mistakes.  It's nice to know that everyone does actually make mistakes.  The only problem is that making mistakes is not what I'd like to spend my time doing.  And I'm sure you have other things to do as well.  Like reading my blog.  But again, I'm sure you have other things to do as well.  Even still, mistakes have been on my mind a lot lately.  I've made countless mistakes throughout my life and continue to make them at my ripe old age of 22.  True life: I'm a dweller.  I dwell on things I've done and things I should have done.  This holds true for even the most basic mistakes, such as getting the 2 dollar toilet paper that is super soft but has three sheets on it instead of splurging for the 4 dollar roll to have it last more than half of a day.  Such a dwellemma.  The thing about dwellemmas is that eventually they fade.  I couldn't tell you what issues I dealt with in grade school... I couldn't tell you what issues I dealt with in high school... I could tell you a few in college, but that's because they haven't reached their fading moment yet.  Whether it was making the mistake of failing a test or saying the wrong thing, I've had plenty of my moments.  Thankfully, I forget the things that should not matter at a certain point, hence grade/high school.  While we're all making mistakes because it's "only human" (I'm sorry but other creatures can probably make mistakes too...) I hope that you do not dwell on them because it can take a toll.  Honestly, I try to tell myself this daily.  Sometimes my heart hurts and yes, I think the two are related.  There, I said it.  So if anything, don't worry about the mistakes you make.  If I could teach you anything, it is that your heart is a valuable instrument in your "only human" body, and I want it to keep beating along with mine.  Make no mistake about that!

          Best,
                  Anne

Break the Fast

"Sometimes I dream as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

         Best,
                Anne