change.

Today (my first official "day off" as a post-college working woman) I went up to campus to pick up my friend Lauren for our long overdue lunch date.  I got there a bit early, so I parked the car and walked around the place that I have called home for the past four years.  The sun was shining through the trees, dropping light in haphazard patterns around my feet, the sky was blue, and there were flowers everywhere.  The areas that were devastated by the fire have begun to sprout new life, and the campus is covered with color and light.  There was a breeze blowing and birds chirping, and I had to just stop and take it all in.  I was almost overwhelmed with thankfulness for the place I was in.

I walked up the path from VK to the DC and I thought about the countless times before that I had walked on that path.  I thought about the person I was the very first time (Admitted Students Day, April 2005) and the person I am now and how much has changed, and yet how much is exactly the same.  I was thankful for the refining work that has been done on me...the ways in which I have grown and matured and become the version of myself that I would very much like to be.  I was thankful for the things I learned and the things I saw and the ways in which I was challenged during my time at Westmont.  

I just stood there, enjoying my surroundings and thinking and I realized that life is moving on.  Already.  Already I'm starting to feel like a visitor on campus instead of someone who belongs.  And while it would have been easy to be sad reminiscing about the past few years (the most amazing ones so far) and thinking that nothing could get better, instead I am choosing to look forward.  I am so thankful for the past four years, but I couldn't be more excited for what the future holds...

And I'll always have this beauty to return to and this place to remember: