Reaching the Halfway Point

It's not quite halfway through 2010 but while it's on my mind I thought it was a good opportunity to do a quick review of where the year stands in comparison with how I felt going into 2010. Besides, it's time I kick my butt back into gear since I've dropped the ball on blogging for the past two and half months and I definitely have full intentions to once again use this as my point of communication to family and friends while I am adventuring out of the country: Brazil!

I told you that 2010 felt different. I wrote that five days into the year. Hard to believe that I was so right. I feel like my life is something completely different today than it was six months ago. I mean, basically just go back to 2009 and it was something different. I never would have told you that so suddenly I would be living in an apartment very much outside of the Highlands area with my best friend and cousin, Holly Jo, who was living and working in Lexington. And I most definitely never would have told you I'd be in a serious relationship with a guy I've known for five years and had never once before even considered being someone I might date.

Six months ago my life centered on working, hanging out with my roomies and walking across the street to visit the Man Clan and getting random texts from Steve, Jaso and Ben usually planning the weekend events. Now my life centers on my work, my family and my boyfriend. Not only has my cousin moved back to Louisville and living with me, but Nic has completed vet school so he and Michelle are moving back as soon as her school year in Auburn is completed. (Nic actually spent the last two months here doing his preceptorship.) My cousin Alyx has just returned from Japan and is in the process of moving to Louisville and word is that my cousin Ian is also returning to Louisville from North Carolina. I don't need to do any rambling about how much my family and my cousins mean to me.

Life is about to change again, however, as Jon, the boyfriend, is taking a job in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana so he'll no longer be living seven minutes away and cooking dinner with me every night. But that's all part of life correct? Change and adventure and moving forward to see where exactly your path intends to lead you.

And at exactly the midway mark of the year I will embark on a great adventure that I've had on my calendar since 2007: Brazil! Micah and I (along with his girlfriend Melody) will head to South American on June 4 to visit Gui just as I promised him I would after returning from Europe in 2007. It will be a 10 day adventure and it's come so quickly that I've not even had time to really wrap my head around the fact I'm truly going. No doubt it will be incredible and I look forward to sharing the adventures with you all.

A 2007 Note to the Fam

I wrote this note to the family last fall (2007) but came across it again and wanted to post it here in my blog just for record sake. I still believe in and hold dear every word I wrote.

When it comes to practice and rainy days, we are bound to do one of three workouts: Drills inside, cardio workouts in the gym, or 15 minute interval runs under the canopies in Bellarmine’s quad. Today we did a canopy run.

This run is definitely the most boring workout we ever do considering you can cover the entire quad in a matter of minutes, meaning you have to repeat the same grounds over and over and over. Lucky for me I brought my Ipod to keep me half distracted with my music.

Then, while lost in my own little world, the strangest thing happened. I was suddenly hit with a smell that brought the memory of corn meal mush rushing to my mind. (As said, very random) I have not thought of the stuff in years, let alone eaten it. However, it was always one of my favorites for breakfast—one I rarely ever had.

It was Grandybo who had always fixed the mush, so this immediately made me begin thinking about him. Now, not that I still do not love Grandybo with my entire heart, but he is not someone that comes to my mind on a daily basis. In fact, I am not sure the last time I really thought a whole lot about him, beyond any thoughts in my prayers.

So, for whatever reason, perhaps the good mood I have been in all week, I really began to think about him. I thought about how long ago he had still been with us and how much I have grown up since then. I thought of what he would think of both me and all of my cousins now. We have all grown so much since his time, and I could not help but smile to myself when thinking of how proud of all of us he would be. He would be so proud of all of our successes and the paths we are all on. To tope that off, he would be proud of the fact that through it all we have remained close and true to the family.

It was awhile into these thoughts before it struck me that it was actually right around this time of year when he died. Then, I realized the day’s date and that I was almost positive that October 26 had been the actual date—which was today’s date. What a special feeling. I had not taken a moment to just stop and really think about Grandybo in years, and randomly, out of nowhere during a regular routine day, he pops into my head, and it just so happens to be on the anniversary date of his death. (And I typically do not even think about the actual date of his death until around talking to family and it is brought up.)

I guess he was somewhere tapping me on the shoulder, and should that have been the case, I suppose he was doing so to give me a simple message to tell the rest of my beloved cousins. He’s still with us after thirteen years and more proud of us than ever. He is proud of our accomplishments and what we have done and are doing with our lives. He is also just as proud of his own children for having done all they have to put us on the paths we are now. He is out there, somewhere, so proud of the family he left behind.

And I just want you all to know, that through the craziness and stress of my life that I am typically caught up in—classes, nonstop homework, an internship, track, keeping a social life, running a newspaper, being involved—you, my family, are forever the most important thing in my life. I think it is knowing that I have such a strong foundation to always fall back on that keeps me in the upbeat happy mode that I am nearly always in—even during weeks such as this, when I am bombarded with work, fully aware that there is no end near. I have been asking myself all week, while smiling the whole way to class, why I so easily stay satisfied with life, but it’s obvious that I have no reason to not be forever grateful with everything in my life.

I love you all!

Peat