endings and beginnings

The end of the school year is always both a time of relief and a time of sadness.  While most of my friends and classmates went through this process several weeks ago, I am experiencing it now, as I finish my ESL practicum in Dayton, and say some hard goodbyes.

This summer I will be living in Tennessee with my family, which will be really nice.  I haven't spent more than a couple of weeks with my family since the summer after I graduated high school.  Usually, I get home and head off to camp for the summer, but this year I will be at home, taking classes and trying to find small jobs wherever I can.  It will be refreshing to spend time with my family, and I really do look forward to it.

This week, I have to say goodbye to Nick for the summer, and Janey for the year.  Janey has been my roommate for three years, and she would be next year if she did not have to go to Afghanistan.  She is being deployed for a year, so this semester was our last time together, because when she returns to school next year, I will have (hopefully) graduated.  So this will be a very bittersweet week for me.  Janey has been not only my roommate, but my closest friend.  She has given me wisdom, a listening ear, and a lot of laughs.   And now that we are coming to the end of our friendship as it has been, I am sad.  We may never be in the same place for such a long period of time ever again.  However, I am thankful for the time we have had to influence one another's lives, to grow together, and to experience real friendship.

On the other end of the week, is my cousin's wedding.  Michael and I grew up together.  We used to put on yearly thanksgiving shows for my family.  I usually made him dress like a turkey while I dressed as "sing-song" the American Indian.  We had cardboard box houses that we pushed next to each other, and cut windows so we could talk while we sat in them. We spent countless hours playing on the sit-n-spin in his basement and watching Disney movies while laying on the fuzzy red blanket at my grandparent's house.  We also went through school together, and graduated together.  I have many good memories, and this weekend I get to see him at his wedding.  So, in the midst of all of the "endings" I am experiencing, there is also an exciting beginning.  Life is interesting in that way :)