Summertime is for...

Once again I see that I haven't posted anything for a while, so its time for a new one and one with pictures!

My last post came close to the end of my first year of Grad School, stress levels were high and summer couldn't come soon enough.  Now I'm looking ahead to another school year.  I'm expecting this to be a challenging year since in 9 months time I will be graduating with a Master's degree and preparing for yet another new adventure.

The kids will be heading into 4th and 2nd grades this year, which on one hand makes me feel old but on the other very appreciative that my children are coming into their own and becoming interested in the world around them.  They are at good ages.  I'm still sad that my little babies are gone, I get significantly less snuggles now and I'm sure this school year will bring more "Moooomm, I don't want to hold your hand!" or "Can you please not kiss/hug me in front of my friends." Seems like every age you lose something you cherished about your kids (i.e. snuggle time, baby giggles, general smallness) but gain something new (i.e. conversations, curious-awake minds, greater ability).  Just like my own aging process I try to remember to enjoy each age, each stage as it comes and not rush through it.  But, before this becomes a sad and sappy post about times long gone lets focus on the present and the present is SUMMERTIME!

A Battle of One...

so instead of impressing my political or social views upon those of you who (silently) read my blog, I thought I would wax poetic about some more personal musings...

A Battle of One is an apt title for my tale of internal conflict, or anyone's internal conflict really, but since I'm the one writing I get the title.  So where to begin?  I've thought this post out several times trying to find the most eloquent words to use, but when it comes to actually writing most of those go right out the window. So lets try this approach...

Once upon a time a teacher told me that I was an "under achiever". A high school student at the time I scoffed at this and said to myself "what do they know?"and thought to dismiss the comment without a second thought.  Being a whole 17 years of age it was easy to be haughty and dismissive.  "Under-achiever" was in some ways a badge of honor because, well, I could be an over-achiever if I tried, right?  Well no... er... maybe...

Let's talk about guns, baby...

The last year or so I have found places like Facebook to be incredibly frustrating.  Election years always tend to stir up more of the "sludge" of society that most of us turn a blind eye to.  Recent years have seen a decline in a once prosperous economy, increasing rates of unemployment and homelessness and an array of other social issues.  It seems that America is again struggling with her identity.

Over the last month I have watched meme after meme be posted from both sides of the political spectrum.  The ones I find most bothersome are the ones involving the current national conversation about Gun Violence and Gun Control.  What really gets to me is the constant barrage of inflammatory, uneducated, unresearched and unwarranted propaganda.  The upside to this is that I am reminded that while I may be left-of-the-middle when it comes to politics, I am still in the middle.  While I'm being constantly inundated with misattributed quotes and misleading statistics I find myself wondering:  are we really talking about this issue or are we simply in a shouting match to see who can yell the loudest?  The likely answer to that question is that it is just one big shouting match wherein nothing will really be accomplished.  That worries me.

Onwards...

So I realized the other day how long it had been since I posted something... so here I am posting something.

Last time I was here I was anticipating the end of an era, now I'm here to say that the era has finished and a new one has begun.
For a minute there I thought I was going to have to change the title of my blog... eliminate the "college" part, but lucky for me that's not the case.

So yes, all my worries about the future and what would happen next have, for the time being, been resolved.

Now, with a Bachelor's degree in hand (two if I want to be specific and since I worked my ass off for that double major, I usually do) I am now facing the world in a new capacity:  Grad Student.

the end of an era approaches...

I've been thinking about writing for a while now.  Thinking about what to write and what to put out there and what not to... so anyway here goes.

They say all good things must come to an end.  Well, I believe it.  Watching tonight's series finale of "Desperate Housewives" (a show I swore I'd never watch then got hooked on this season... damn you TV drama!) inspired me to sit down and write.  That and the fact that I'm not very tired and my belly is still full from our Mother's Day BBQ... but I digress... the point is that no matter what, everything changes or comes to an end.

Some things we are grateful to have end.  Some changes are supremely difficult but have happier endings than we could have ever anticipated.  Others leave us wishing for life as it was before. And some remain unclear until the last moment when they blossom into a new adventure. Still, no matter what the case time will march forward and the past will become a memory.  Funny thing time... the older I get the more profoundly I feel it...