two.

Day two of Michele's absence.

(I know what you're thinking...wasn't yesterday day two?  And it was...kind of.  But I saw Michele twice yesterday and hung out with her kids, so I don't really count it.)

First things first - today is Michele's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHELE!!!!!  I hope you're eating yogurtland right now while you're reading this :).

Anyways, on to the rest of the post.

I was having a hard time focusing in the office today, so I left and ran some errands and then went home to finish up my allotted three hours a day there instead.  There are definitely some perks to working at home - a plethora of available snacks, comfortable seating, and it's socially acceptable to do all your work in shorts, a t-shirt, and bare feet.  It's a little bit lonely, but oh-so-comfy.

So, there I was, sitting on the floor of my little room with papers strewn about and my computer open to an overly-complicated spreadsheet, when I looked over at my bookshelf and saw it.  My college degree.  And all of a sudden, it hit me - this wave of understanding, significance, and, most of all, pride.  I am proud of myself.  Proud of how hard I've worked for that degree and the education in represents.  I'm proud of my dedication, the extra mile I always tried to go, and the integrity with which I did it all.  And it's just a little piece of paper in a simple frame on the third shelf of my bright green book stand, but it matters.  To me, it matters.  

Things in my life are, of course, nothing like I thought they'd be.  It's nothing like the plans that have come and gone so fleetingly over the past 22 years.  But, at the core, life is exactly what I want, and I am exactly who I want to be.  I have a great family, great friends, great potential, and a Great God who rules over it all.  I have my whole future to continue this journey that I'm just barely a few steps in to.  And when I look at my little Westmont College degree, I'm reminded that God has equipped me in every way to complete this journey the way that He wants me to, and he has fully enabled me to be the person that He imagined me to be - the person I so desperately want to be.

Maybe a lot to get from a piece of paper.  But there it is.

Thank you for this gift of life.