Lucky Girl

If we could've seen how our lives would be,

we wouldn't have believed it - how lucky we are.

All of us.*

I talked to my friend Anna today for an hour and 30 minutes. Our conversation was non-stop, give and take, the kind where you move fluidly from topic to topic without ever realizing you are talking about something different. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Connections. They take my breath away. When Anna and I made the decision (separately) to go to the same college almost exactly five years ago I never would have predicted where our lives would go. How cool is that?

We both wanted to be teachers - so we did the teacher education program thing. We took some classes together, completed our student teaching, and became certified teachers. We moved out of our respective apartments in La Crosse, Wisconsin, left our college days behind, and said goodbye to a town that gave us incredible, life-changing memories. Now I am teaching 8th grade math in Cali, Colombia and she accepted a job for next year in Thermopolis, Wyoming.

How did we get to this point? Talking to her today reminded me of how incredibly lucky I am to have the relationships I do with people who challenge me, who build me up, who make me laugh, who make me feel alive. We meet new people everyday, we build friendships, we form relationships, and we turn new friends into old friends. We learn together, we live our lives together, we laugh together and in the process....we grow up. Our lives change more and more everyday and sooner or later, we change with them.

Throughout it all? The love we have for each other remains the same. As we laughed together thinking back on college memories, I thought to myself - why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the past?

Because it made us who we are today.

Everything that happened, it happened for a reason.

That's how we got to this point.

In exactly one month my plane will touch down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and nine hours after that I will be bouncing out of my seat with excitement as I board my 6 am flight with final destination MINNESOTA. Eeeeeek! I literally cannot think about going home without squealing out loud. Eleven months is a long time and I cannot wait to reclaim that giant piece of my heart that I left the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I plan to spend a whirlwind thirty-five days rediscovering the stunning people I am so lucky to call my friends and family during the hot, humid days and breezy, cools nights of a Minnesota summer.

See you there!!

*Quote credits: Brooke Davis, One Tree Hill. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. :)

p.s. I have been having trouble blogging lately - call it Spring Fever, call it a busy schedule or call it lack of motivation. Whatever the reason was, all inspiration for the return is thanks to a beautiful friend - thanks Anna.