End of the Summer

I write this on the eve of the start of my senior year at university. I look back on my summer with a slight smile. My heart already feels warm at the remembrance of those I found it difficult to say goodbye to. I have a feeling I will make the effort to see them again in the future. I can continue on in my reflective state and genuinely laugh out loud at the reminiscing of all those whom I have met from day one at university and still hold the privilege of knowing today. It is an overwhelming wave that settles just before hitting the shore and becomes the bubbly foam teasing at your ankles. I feel slightly melancholic considering how quickly this last year will pass and how quickly all those I pass in the hallways will go on to their own careers and new lives in places all over the world. I don’t mean to romanticize it all so much but it is hard to believe that I started all this when I was 18 years old. I used to be unsettled with the idea that the beginnings of my life were limited to this university bubble. I realize now, I might not have made it this far had I chosen to go anywhere else. I feel I have come so far already, lived and experienced so much amidst the tide. Part of me, can’t imagine how there could possibly be still more life ahead. More experiences to be had and lessons to learn, yet I press on where the tide takes me so long as my boat is made to manage. I had approximately one week after Washington D.C. and before the start of senior year. This week was tumultuous in itself. I was initially dumbfounded by any plausible action to take as I had virtually nothing to do upon my return. But I close out this week having finally finished my 882 page book that I am certain I will never open again. The week was much needed once I managed a way to settle and truly feel comfortable as the captain of my own time and schedule. I feel as though I am closing a chapter, but even with how it is ending here, I am eager to see what lies ahead. I see I am walking into it with my eyes slightly shielded but open just enough to see. If this last year is any summation of what I have experienced thus far, I know I ought to be prepared for a tumultuous tide. This will be the last post within the summer 2025 but more lies just beyond the horizon. 

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit,” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV