It's hard to believe how quickly two years of my life have flown by, and harder still to believe all the life that's happened in them. In a few shorts days I'll be packing everything I own into a truck and moving (back) to Pennsylvania, to State College. Thankfully, due to some inspirational Pinterest posts, my helpful roommate Ashley, and a more well-developed ability to let go of stuff, everything I own is about 6 bags of trash and 6 bags of donations less than it was just a few weeks ago!
Leaving NOVA will be bittersweet, because so much life has happened here. Most of all I'll miss seeing my roomie Ashley all the time, and the friends I've made from work and bible study.
It was here that I worked my first grown-up, full-time job, which taught me more about managing both spreadsheets and people, both of which I enjoyed more than I had anticipated (though the people were much more fun than the data, as expected!). It was here that I got the call about Maggie's death, and here that I've processed the immediate and very worst of my grief over missing her. (Though I miss her still, and always will.) While living here I volunteered with a humane society for the first time and loved it. It was while living here that I tried online dating, fell in love, and then we together ended that relationship. It was here that I decided to get my first tattoo-- a simple design that represents my forever love for my family-- that thankfully turned out exactly as I had hoped. Here I observed, up close and personal, what it's like to be in a clinical psychology PhD program. Here I researched graduate programs and decided against clinical psych and for school psych, wrote my application materials, and prepared for interviews. It was here that I got the emails about my acceptance to Penn State! Here I helped, from a distance, to plan and prepare for some of my dearest friends' weddings. Here I bonded more deeply with Katie during several sister weekends, packed with quality time over Netflix and cupcakes and snuggles. Here I questioned, explored, and clung to my belief in a loving God. It was while living here that I learned more about renter's insurance, auto insurance, finding new doctors, roasting vegetables, and all those adult life things. Within my last few months of living here, I took a chance and answered a message from a kind, clever, handsome redhead, who I'm so thrilled to be moving towards later this week. :D
There is so much I'm looking forward to in State College: getting to know my new roommates (and their cute cat!), bonding with my cohort, starting my program, becoming reacquainted with my favorite college town, and being geographically closer to everyone in my immediate family and my boyfriend (lucky, right?!). :) Arguably the most important life lesson I've learned during my time here is that I am surrounded by an overwhelmingly faithful, caring, generous, global "community" of people. I know that no matter what the next chapter of my life entails, no matter what difficult and wonderful things will happen there, I will not ever face any of it alone.
Shoutouts to: my friends here for the cards, presents, and epic farewell parties!, and the awesome folks planning to help me move all my belongings this weekend! Happy Valley, I'm coming back! :)
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