Where have the other 68 gone?!
I feel like I was too busy rushing through work and school at the beginning of the summer, that I forgot to slow down and enjoy it. I have less than a month left and most of that time is claimed by my job. The most frustrating part is that I don't even have that many hours at work. The hours I do work restrict the things I can do before I go in, and I'm too tired after to do anything. I wonder if having a job was really the best idea. Looking back, I had a "wish" list of things I wanted to do this summer, and maybe I've crossed them off the list....just not how I thought I would.
*See something that moves me- when I first thought of this, I thought of an act of kindness, possibly going with a volunteer job. However, I was really moved when I went to the OKC memorial this past weekend and went through the museum. I was only 3 (about to be 4) at the time it happened, so I didn't have much memory other than the trial. The sudden impact it had on countless lives and the rush to aid those in need got to me. I found myself biting back tears walking through the museum; some of sadness, some angry, and some happy for the support of the families affected.
*Visit friends- I dreamed this may have something to do with out of state trips to friends, or frequent trips to Fayetteville. Instead it's been more of a goal to get to see my friends that are living around here. We have to schedule at least a few days in advance to make sure we can see each other. I still can't wait to see all my Fayetteville friends in a month.
*Make new friends- This, I assumed from previous experience, would come from my summer class. While I did meet a few people in there, most were older and didn't really relate to me. Surprisingly, I've made a few friends at work, and I'm actually going to be a little sad leaving some of them in a little over two weeks. I thought I'd be glad to be gone after my first week there.
*Spend family time- If you know my family, you know this was going to happen, regardless. My sister having a baby and my brother getting married just added more time than we usually all have together. I've seen my sister for as much time in the past couple of months as my whole freshman year probably. I'm glad to be able to see my niblings grow up.
*Vacation-Usually my family takes a week long vacation during the summer. Since my parents took vacation days for my new nephew and my brother, we had a short vacation to OKC to see my 7 year old nephew play baseball. We got to take my niece to the zoo, soaked up some sun, and (as mentioned before) stopped by the OKC memorial on the way out. It was a packed 3 days, but left me well rested.
*Become stronger in faith- I'd printed out a Bible study before I left school, but now it's lost in my boxes and shamefully I haven't even attempted to start on it. I had plans for going to church every Sunday, which was cancelled out by working every Sunday. The only thing that has gotten stronger about my faith is my praying. The stress of work and school brought me to states of utter insanity. It's not that either was hard, just time consuming. I prayed, and still do, for patience and calm. There were a couple nights my last week of school (when I had a quiz, class presentation, and final on top of 35 hours of work) that I thought I'd just be good to get by through it all. I ended up making an A on all the class stuff and not having any kind of mental breakdowns at work.
*Learn something outside of books- Class discussions brought up many interesting and controversial topics, as to be expected in college. The most interesting thing to me though was my Kenyan professor's point of view on world events as he gave us a picture of what things are like over in Africa. It made me think of studying abroad, not neccesarily to Africa, but I'm a bit afraid to cross the ocean.
*Learn something with books-It's amazing to me how much history doesn't get covered in public high schools. I was lucky to get past World War I, and it was so nice to go into detail about the causes and events leading through World War II, Cold War, and into present day terrorism.
*Read for fun- I imagined I would have all this time to relax and read. I have no idea what I was thinking! I finally got around to checking a book out a couple weeks ago, started reading it, didn't like it, and then realized today it's past due. I think I might give up on this one.
*Forgive and forget-This one has to do with forgiving those who hurt me. Honestly I have forgiven, it's the forgetting that isn't easy. I'm working on being friends, but it's hard. Unfortunately there's been another added to the list during the summer making the job that much more.
*Organize- If you know me, you know I'm a mess. I was hoping to get things under control this summer in practice for living in a room by myself come fall. This is still a work in progress...but there's still hope!
*Be helpful- I'd planned to help out more around the house; clean a bit, cook dinner, etc.... but mom's always home for dinner, whereas I don't get home til around 9. Cleaning is hard to do when you're sitting at home with no motivation or help and a list of a thousand things you'd rather be doing.
*Volunteer-I'd hope to at least take part in the Habitat for Humanity work that I'm an officer of, but it seems that no matter what days I get off, there is never a build on that day. I guess I'll just have to save it for fall.
*Study for fall semester- I'm actually attempting this starting this week. I have my Spanish flash cards and Calculus book. I'm going to try to get a head start on Spanish Intermediate II and Cal III to keep good grades this semester so my honors college status isn't in jeopardy.
*Re-style myself-This originally was thought to be a hair cut and work-out routine. I've decided that the work-out will wait til I'm better equipped on campus and my friend talked me into waiting to cut my hair. We're going to both donate our hair at the same time, so I have to wait til her hair is long enough. Insteadk, I've made minor changes, new make-up, a bit of a tan, and new "girly" clothes.
I hope that everyone else's summer has lived up to their expectations, and if not, look again. You may have done everything you wanted in a different way.
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