Gotta Keep Movin'

Today is the beginning of the end. I will graduate from college in May, a fact that was made very real last week when I turned in my application for graduation. I will start my student teaching on March 11. But today, today is the beginning of the end because today is my last day working in the on-campus office where I have worked for two years and six months. Because I will be teaching from 8:00-3:00 next quarter, I won't be able to keep my part time job. It's made me realize that my life is changing. That from today, from this day forward, I will never be a regular college student again. Never. It's crazy how in the space of 24 hours, everything you've known and been comfortable with can change. I feel that I'm on the brink of a towering, rushing, frothing waterfall, and the prow of my little pirouge is protruding over the edge and that for a split second I can see all that is behind, below, and in front of me. And then suddenly, unstoppably I am whisked over the edge by the forceable current, and I can never go back. I will no longer be employed here where I developed so many good relationships with my co-workers; I will no longer walk across campus from class to class on MWF or TR; I've registered for the last time, and confirmed my schedule for the last time, and turned in my time sheet for...the...last...time. Not to say that my future isn't extremely bright. I love teaching. Love it. I'm aching to have my own classroom with my own students and my own routines. I live in a friendly community, am a member of a wonderful church, live with my sister and 3 oh-so-fun roommates. My parents, with whom I have an excellent relationship, aren't too far away that I can't go home on the weekends. I'm dating a guy who is so right for me, a guy who I've been waiting on, and dreaming about, and praying for my entire life. The past week has simply made me realize that life is full of waterfalls, some monumental and drastic, some gentle and insignificant. After each fall, I am taken to a new part of the river, a new part of life. And though it may be similar, it's not the same, and I can't go back. The current carries me steadily, inexorably forward sometimes over rough rapids, sometimes through smooth, deep pools, sometimes between steep, narrow cliffs, sometimes under a clear, bright sky...but always onward. All I can do is enjoy the ride. In the words of Grandma Fontaine in Gone with the Wind (if you've never read the book, you really should) "When it comes to something that's unpleasant but can't be helped, I don't see any sense in screaming and kicking about it. That's no way to meet the ups and downs of life."