So junior year is right around the corner and although I never would have guessed it would have come this fast, I am more than ready for it. It seems that as each year goes by at Penn State, I become more comfortable with who I am and realize that this is truly where I am supposed to be. I think so much of the time we get caught up in worrying about how the future will pan out and what turn we need to take next that we forget to look back and see where we actually came from and how much of the journey we have already made. I remember thinking way back in junior high; I know, ages ago, about which college I would be going to and which major I would eventually choose. Now that I have actually decided those things I'm focused again on looking into the future and wondering what career I will have and who my family will be. By always planning for the future, I easily miss the fact that God has been working all along and many of the things that I worried about in the past, are taken care of by now. When I realize this, I know that I don't need to worry about how things will work out, God has been and will take care of everything.

Sometimes I wonder if this thinking is just me being carefree and because of it, I can easily put trust in Christ. After this summer though, there's something that makes me believe even more wholeheartedly in my faith. Something that reaffirms my feelings and beliefs. I've been thinking about this something for a bit since I've been back.; and I try to explain it, but it's one of those things that is hard to describe because it was something experienced.

Lately I have developed more of an interest in reading, and the more I read, the more I am impressed with how authors are able to express their thoughts and share their stories. Maybe the fact that I have a bad memory doesn't help, but I feel like there are so many moments from this summer where I am left not fully being able to describe it, as if words don't do justice. Luckily I have pictures so I have something at least to show to people, but I'm still working on how to actually describe the pictures. I suppose with time that will come.

But I think all of those experiences are the parts that make up our journey, and whether or not we can fully express them to others, they are part of what shapes us and defines where we are headed.

I had a physics high school teacher who one day took my class out to a cemetery after one of our classmates had passed away. Although I don't remember much of what he said, the one thing that did stick in my head was when he pointed to one of the tombstones. And he told us that there is the date in which you enter this world and the date in which you leave this world, but neither of them are significant in comparison to the little dash in between them. Each one of the gravestones out there had that little dash, and each one represented a different journey for someone, a journey in which only they and God knew the entire path to. Although a dash may not seem like much, it's exciting to think that as each day goes by, we are chiseling away part of our dash. I think that realization is what has me so excited about this next semester at Penn State. It's gonna be a good year and I can't wait to see what happens from here.