two more weeks

Cool things happened today. My Spanish professor told me after Phonetics that I was the only kid in class to get a perfect score on my last homework assignment. Later on, it rained and thundered - and was brilliantly sunny at the same time. Then I laughed so hard that - ironically - my headache went away for an hour or so. Then Jenn and I had a dance party. Then, after an IM soccer game, I went out with Stephen and looked at stars from flat on our backs in the grass for a couple minutes.

Two weeks from today, class is finished for the year. Three weeks from exactly this time, I will be back in Erie. It's amazing how quickly this year went. At the same time, it's amazing how long this year was. It seems like a lifetime ago that it was Christmas. Seems like a whole nother year that I was in BibRev or cracking up with Paul and Haena and Lissa in Bio Lab so hard that there were tears running down my face just about every week. I remember, in October, standing barefoot in my red dress on the soccer field with Stephen after homecoming. In September, I remember the very first time I stood in goal. 

This was a good year. This was a year much better than last year. First of all, I'm leaving school this year with friends. I'm leaving with my personality intact. I'm leaving with far more of a sense of direction than I did last year. I'm leaving with the experience of having tried something new, leaving with an idea of how next year will be. I'm leaving with people I know without a shadow of a doubt will still be here in August when I come back. I'm leaving with the knowledge that there is a person here who loves me and who has my back no matter what.

Would I say that I love this place? Nah. I feel that saying that I love Grove City would be a bit of a stretch. But I have caught myself a couple of times in the past few weeks saying to Stephen or Jenn, "If we lived in the city, we wouldn't be able to ________." See these amazing stars. Look at this sweet creek. Walk this road to the playground. This place is okay.

Last January, I couldn't wait to get out of Erie. Last school year, I couldn't wait to get out of GCC. At the end of the summer, I couldn't wait to get out of the house. It's been a while since I've been reluctant to leave a place. 

This is more abstract and less informational. But I guess the idea of writing to you is to let you understand what it's like for me here. And this is what it's like right now.

It's been quite the year.