What a Week

(and it's not over yet!)

I didn't imagine it would be this long before I had something to say since last Saturday. Until Tuesday, it seems I was entirely too exhausted to do much more than was required of me, and yesterday I just wasn't interested.

The exhaustion was the result of the Half and definitely was no fun. On Tuesday I decided maybe a little activity (i.e. running) might help wake up me up, but that only ended up bringing back the pain inside my left knee that had finally disappeared on Monday. (Way to go, Kristine).

There is definitely some sort of high you get from doing something like the Half Marathon, and for the first of the week there was a definite crash. And it wasn't just a physical crash for the two of us, but a mental one as well. Mix that with the fact that I was nearing my last few days as an employee of Vanderbilt and it's just been a strange week.

My office hosted a very nice Graduation celebration lunch at Ted's yesterday (my choice) and I had an exit interview for the graduate assistantship program. I had a great meal and recieved a lovely card, a Vanderbilt frame for the diploma I will have in A WEEK (!), and Mary Beth was such a doll and got both Ashley and I each a dozen color-tipped roses. Mine are bright pink.

I just didn't see it coming. I mean, I did. I just wasn't prepared for it. What felt like final goodbyes really shouldn't be, but anytime you leave something you just never know. I've spent two years learning a great deal about myself, about the type of people I want to work with, and the type of place I want to do that in. I am so grateful for all of the experiences I have had. It's just finishing a chapter that has become so familiar is never easy when you're not sure what the rest of the book entails.

Last night I celebrated the end of the semester at Belmont with some of our SIFE students. We watched a viewing of the documentary a film journalism class has made about the team and capped the night off with pizza at Mafiaoza's. It's hard to believe I'm almost done at Belmont, too. Two weeks from today we'll be coming back from Chicago and my time will be just about up.

All this finality. And then, there's the two rejection letters I got just yesterday. One for the Academic Advisor position I applied for at MTSU and one for a college planning advisor position at Christ Presbyterian Academy. This experience has been sobering, so those e-mails came as little shock. Each had explanations involving the general notion that I do not have enough experience.

So, I just keep trucking along. And today's Thursday, so that's promising. Not only that, but it's the first of a brand new month full of good times to come. Graduation, Mother's Day, birthdays, Chicago, TN Renaissance Festival, a wedding, Lampo picnic, and a holiday weekend.

The Lord is good.