This weekend

Fun times with my friends! From left to right: Janna, Kayla, Michelle, me, and Megan.

This weekend was the first since school started that I stayed in town, and I am so glad I did. Saturday night was a blast. I had so many people over at my place laughing, playing games, eating pizza...you know, the typical college stuff. However more importantly, this weekend I was, for the first time in a long time, completely happy. At around about one in the morning all the guys left and the girls started getting ready for bed. I felt like a little girl at a sleep over as I sat on my bed listening to the stories of life lessons and (of course) boys. We stayed up so late that we ended up only gettting about three hours of sleep, but it was worth it. That night when we finally did go to bed I stayed up thinking for a while. I was so scared to move down here, so afraid I wouldn't make real friends, wouldn't live up to my expectations, wouldn't find someone who would understand me. I realized something as I thought about all those old worries: that if you don't open yourself up to the possibility of pain, then you will never be able to find happiness. I took a huge leap of faith coming to Waco, and an even bigger one when I opened up my heart to new friendships. On Sunday we all hung out and I got to talking with Jeremy. What a cool guy! I was encouraged by the fact that despite being terribly hurt by guys, I am beginning to trust them again. I have had a lot of tests this week, a lot of stress, but having people there for me makes all the difference. I'm finally getting to experience college, for all its ups and downs, fun times and stressors, loves and hates. It's liberating. I'm once again passionate about life and can't wait to see what happens next!

PS - for those of you interested...I made the equestrian team! I was the first walk-on asked; in fact, the coach was so impressed that she wanted me to scrimmage with the team the day after my try-out!