The past several weeks have been full of transition, and as I look back each weekend marks some sort of a turning point in my life. So let me describe my post-grad life through these key moments...
Weekend #1: Commencement
As an event that I had been looking forward to as the long-awaited end-point of my undergraduate career, it felt very surreal. The formalities and pomp and circumstance marking this milestone somehow felt unreal - like I had already completed my work and earned my degree, and this official recognition was anti-climatic. Everyone was making such a big deal about it, yet to me it was just the logical next step - graduation was what came after you finished school, and then "real life" started. It was that next step that I was itching to get to - "commencement" after all means "beginning" and I was ready to start something new. Despite the sadness of saying goodbyes, I did not dread the future like some of my peers - I was ready to take the next step.
Weekend #2: Philly
After graduation I went home to Philly, and the next weekend was jam-packed with people, as I went from my graduation party to hanging out with friends to church Sunday morning to lunch with friends to a different church in the evening! As an introvert that constant interaction drains me, but it was more than just being peopled-out - I was going through a roller-coaster of emotions. I felt caught between this overwhelming love and gratitude for these people and communities who have played significant roles in my life, and yet this distinct sense that I didn't belong there anymore. I guess the two aren't mutually exclusive - I can deeply appreciate the role that they have played at important junctures in my life while still knowing that it is time for me to move on. I know that these will always be places that I can come back to and be welcomed with open arms, but leaving this time had a certain feeling of finality to it. However, going through this process of letting go of Philly to a certain degree was healthy and necessary as I prepared to move on.
Weekend #3: Harrisburg!
This past weekend I moved into my new apartment in Harrisburg, something that I had been looking forward to for a long time. The weather was perfect, friends came to help, and it just felt so right. After constantly commuting to Hburg for church and volunteering and visiting friends, I was finally HERE and everything felt so close! And I was so excited to be living in the Allison Hill neighborhood, which I have come to know and love during my years at Messiah, and where I am committed to being involved however I can.
So that is where I am now - and so thankful to God for placing me here for however long He wills!
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