Gratitude

In preparation for a lack of posts and a predicted flood of complaining, I wanted to make a final post before school officially takes over my life.

These past few days I have spent a large part of my days thinking about my life and how lucky I am.  I don't think that I express my gratefulness as much as I should... I have had an incredible life full of love, friendships, family, and incredible experiences.  I wanted to record just a few things that I am eternally grateful for, so that in the coming month, as I stress over my studies, I can look at this list and see that it is just a small part of an incredible life that I have been blessed with.  Just looking at the past 9 years of my life....

8th grade:  I was able to travel with  my Latin class to Athens, the Greek Isles, and Turkey

10th grade: I was able to travel with my family and my best friend to Uruguay.

11th grade:  I was able to travel with my best friend's family to Hawaii and then finish the summer with the Startalk Chinese Program at Ole Miss. Oh and no big deal... my best friend's dad gave me a car he fixed up!

12th grade:  I had an incredible last year of high school.  I was able to participate in the Fringe Theater Festival. I traveled to London and Edinburgh with that group and had the pleasure of being surrounded by these incredible people for 2 whole weeks.

Freshman Year:  After a rough first semester, I was led to a major that I grew to love! I got to travel with my family to Spain and France.  I got to visit Berlin with my mom.  I finally made it to New York City for the first time and I fell in love with it!

Sophomore Year:  I was selected for an accounting leadership conference, I received the Barksdale Award, and I was able to spend almost 3 months in Uruguay with my family while studying and researching my grandmother's history.   I also got to return to New York with my best friend and got to watch her fall in love the same way I had! Then I got to go back with my sister and spend new years in the Big Apple!

Junior Year: I got to go to New York 3 times!!!! Once to interview for a summer internship with a big four company, once to enjoy the city with my sister and my best friend, and finally to INTERN for a whole 2 months! I made awesome intern friends! I was able to watch over 20 Broadway shows! I was able to travel with the honors college to Boston. I got to coordinate the Honors College Freshman Retreat and got to act like an event planner, my dream job!

Senior Year: I helped plan the incredibly successful first year Dance Marathon at Ole Miss.  I was able to take another best friend and her mom to New York! I got to return for a second time to New York with 3 of my wonderful friends.  And now I get to study abroad in Potsdam, live in Berlin, and travel around Europe.

All of these things happened while I spent my days in classrooms or working at my amazing jobs and my nights studying.  All these things happened while I was surrounded by the most amazing family and friends.  Whatever the situation, whatever the time, I have always had someone by my side.  Someone to cheer me on, someone to shut me up, someone to travel with me, or someone to just sit quietly while we study.  What more could I ever dream of?  Everyone wasn't always healthy, but we ended up ok.  No, I don't still have everyone that I wish was still with me... yes there are a lot of people I miss... but I have memories that I will cherish forever.  Yes, I have come to understand that I will never be able to be in all my homes at once or together with all of my friends and family at once.  But I get to have more than one home! And I get to introduce my friends and family to my other homes! How amazing is that!!! All in all, I could never say enough thank yous to all the people that deserve them... but I wish I could, because I am who and where I am, because of the people that surround me.  THANK YOU!

As I go into my last month and a half of school, I know that the stress and expectations will drive me crazy and make me a lot more pessimistic than I wish, but I will try to keep in mind that it is JUST school and means close to nothing in comparison to the rest of my life.  Whew... Now I have written proof and something to look at to bring me down to earth!!!  With all that said, I'm heading to bed!! Hope everyone has had an amazing weekend!