pre-Alaska II

One Week Left-

In a week I head off to Alaska!!! I am still a bit nervous. I realized that I have spent almost an entire year living at home. After such a long time "back in the nest"... it feels a little uncomfortable to trek out into the great unknown again. But, upon reflection, I believe that it has been a year of growth for both me and my family, as well as a good transition to the future.

I will be the first to admit that living at home has not been ideal. It has been extremely hard after spending four years in Washington, DC fending for myself. Not to mention that without the academic stimulation that I had at GWU I regressed to watching a lot more television than I would like to admit. I have felt in limbo. Not quite sitting around... but also not really doing very much.

You might ask why I'm complaining? Every college student wishes for this kind of break from their overstimulated lifestyle. At some point four years of stress induced binge eating sweets and greasy pizza, loading up on coffee to get through a hectic day of lectures, and staying up all night to study or finish assignments gets old. What I have come to realize is that although everyone wishes for a break they never actually take it. But, I took my break... and fought every second of it. When you get what you want you don't usually know that you've gotten it... and most of the time it doesn't appear in the pretty package you imagined it would be in.

Living at home was not the pretty package I imagined my break would be. But, it has allowed me to realize certain things about myself and develop certain interests that I never could have pursued while worrying about completing college. I was just too distracted by all the information that I was being asked to absorb. Living at home, and being bored, forced me to explore.

Without my experiences substitute teaching at my old high school and elementary school, and the articles I read on the ideas behind sustainable living and organic agriculture, I would not be going to work on Calypso Farm in Alaska. So while the package my break came in was a little damaged, it is not just the appearance that counts. It is the contents of that package which ultimately made the difference for me.