Well it's been about 2 months since I promised an update and here it finally is! Seeing as the last real post I created was about the start of football season and was depressing as all get out, I guess I will let you guys in on the past 10 months and try to keep it upbeat. :) I'll start by saying I will not be giving you a play by play of the last several months, but rather glimpses into the important areas. And away we go...
Last we spoke football was just beginning and so was the most trying semester of my academic career! Not only was the schoolwork super overwhelming (because I underestimated it), but I was traveling home every 2-3 weeks and some of those weekends spending only one night at home and the rest traveling to football. Which brings me to my first highlight, away games with my family. You all know what a big deal this is for us and this past season I had the luck (notice I didn't say "good") of being at the Auburn/Clemson game with my Dad and brother. And that is the last I will say about that, except everything from their traditions to their campus looked awfully familiar. I suppose they could have gotten their own, but hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...or some bull like that. Anyway, after that I did have the good luck of traveling to the Auburn/South Carolina game just 2 weeks later with both of my parents. The trip in which I researched for my genogram, not the best idea when stuck in close quarters...yikes! But the game was amazing, I'm now one stadium closer to seeing Auburn play in every SEC stadium and we visited a new Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives location. Go us!! By the way though, how sucky is it that this year I will complete my rounds of the SEC stadiums with Mississippi State and it is the same year they expand the SEC to include Texas A&M and Missouri? Talk about gettin angry over that, I'm still fuming! But, I digress.
Also during football season I realized who here in Mississippi would be my new football buddies. Thankfully there are 2 other Auburn grads in my program, and one of them has turned out to be a football fanatic. Luckily that same fanatic has become a good friend, my new bar buddy, and let's face it, the ultimate wingman. :) Speaking of bars, it took me a while to find a local haunt in this town since apparently I spent very little time here in my first semester. But I will briefly say that if you enjoy line dancing, country music, and plain entertainment in the form of people watching then you have just been cordially invited to come visit me.
In other news, I was able to finish up the semester (without dying, I know you were worried), head out for the holidays, and make a trip to visit that oldest brother of mine for a few days. That was a pretty great trip up to Huntsville back in December. Let me explain that due to our seven year age difference, William and I have never really gotten to know each other. Not as kids and never really to the opportunity to as adults until now. I've gotta say it's been pretty rewarding to get to know my brother and his family, which just recently expanded with a new member, little mister Crawford Alexander Avant. Cute kid.
Going home after that trip was nice, but really it was nothing more than seeing my old friends from home, getting some much needed relaxation, and hanging out with my man Davis. Who, by the way, is about to be four and I swear is smarter than me, I'm just always impressed by how much that kid has changed and learned since the last time I saw him. We had the best time playing and being crazy for a month and then it was back to the 'burg, but not before another visit up to William and Leslie.
Luckily the second semester was much easier than the first, but still challenging. The most straining part of the semester is what we refer to here as personal growth, which will be revisited later in this post. This semester of growing included quite a few long trips home thanks to my crafty scheduling and a spring break trip to the beach. Since I have already summed up what happens when I go home, I will sum up what happened on the all girls spring break trip. Seeing old friends, shopping, sunburn, seafood, and shopping. Yes, those all started with the letter 's', now aren't you impressed?! #sarcasm But really it was a great trip and if I ever find a time again that works for everyone to go back, it will be a miracle, but a really great miracle. :)
So after this trip the semester wrapped up pretty quickly and did I mention my internship for this fall? I didn't? Well let me tell you about it! Since I'm a mere 6 weeks from being a second year, I just recently (in the last 2 months) interviewed and landed my internship at Pine Grove Behavioral Health's Family Program here in Hattiesburg. I am so excited to begin this experience and truly believe this is going to be an incredible time for me as far as growth and learning in my field. I will keep y'all posted along the way. Now if only I could magically have a closet full of work ready clothes! More on that another time.
And to the personal growth. Now before you think we're just a bunch of hippies (which we are) talking about our feelings and crying all the time (which we do), first know that these past few months of really growing and exploring myself as a person have been some of the most difficult, heartbreaking, and rewarding months of my life. And I am whole-heartedly looking forward to the challenge of continuing on with this journey. I've been able to establish great support systems both near and far, begin setting better boundaries in every part of my life, and really start to learn who I am as an individual and in that really start to like myself. And if you really know me, you know all of those are HUGE things for me to begin to do and I can't wait to continue them.
One last thing and then I swear I'll stop writing this novel. Last summer I remember sitting in a dear friend's apartment in Auburn talking about where our futures were about to take us and God's plan for our lives. And I remember telling her that at that time the thought of moving to Mississippi was supposed to be scary but I all I felt was peace. I hadn't felt peace in my life very often up until that point, in fact I can count the times on one hand, but I felt this overwhelming sense of peace about the biggest change I had ever made in my life. I remember being stumped by this peace and thinking I must have moved past fear and into denial, but really it was just this calm that I sat in for a while. At this point I'm still not sure how I felt it back then, but now I'm sure that the peace had to do with the positive change that has come in my life since then and that I trust is still to come with some hard work. For now that's all I have to say, so until I can come back again...
