Oh the Memories!

Tonight I've been sorting through literally hundreds of pictures (and these aren't even the recent ones!) searching for certain ones for a special project I'm working on. It's been a big task, but it's also been rewarding. It reminded me of some of the great memories I have stored up from fun times in my life.

I've always been the queen of pictures, ready with camera in hand to document important life events. I try my hardest not to shy away from having my picture taken either. Even though that means I have some not so great photos of myself, it also means I'm not absent from pictures of important family events. I appreciate that. In some ways it also helps me see how I've grown and changed.

Tonight I was reminded of the time when I only had a niece and a nephew. It seems like so long ago now, especially when I see how little they were in the pictures and how big they are now. Time passes crazy fast and before you know it, you have 12 nieces and nephews, or rather 5 nieces and 7 nephews. And they're growing up so fast. Some of them are on the brink of becoming teenagers. Scary! (If I wasn't technologically impaired, I would scan my pictures into the computer and post a few here, but, alas, I cannot.)

I also ran across many, many pictures from my college days. I'm not going to idealize and say it was such an easy time of my life, but it was certainly a time of growth, learning and discovery. I was so young when I started college as an 18-year-old freshman. Of course I didn't think so then, but I can see now that I was.

I was blessed to have wonderful roommates for the whole time I was at school. They become some of my best friends, and we made fantastic memories together. Some of our more memorable ones include the flour fight/snow dance in the kitchen (we still found flour in the drawers months later!), when my two roomies turned themselves into Texas Rangers and tied the rest of us in our living room, when we played a little "Sixth Sense" joke on our roommate (I'm not going to elaborate so you'll have to use your imagination) or when we played Trading Spaces with our home evening brothers. Ahhh, those were good times! Again, I would post a few pictures, but I am unable to at this time.

If nothing else, this little trip down memory lane has helped remind me that no matter what happens, I have been so very blessed in my life. It humbles me to even think about it, but perhaps that's what it's supposed to do. All I can say is that I'm so glad I had a camera to capture these memories on film. Now I can remember them for many years to come. (Yes, I realize this last part is sappy, and I apologize for that, but I can't help it. I think you can handle it though.)

A Little Bit Nostalgic

I haven't been very good about writing in this recently and for that I apologize. It's not that I haven't thought about it; I've just been busy with other things and haven't gotten around to it. Oh well! And my entries are all slightly belated too, but again, just bear with me.

This week marked the beginning of the school year not only for my madre and padre and my very dear Speak but also for many friends from my ward which is, after all, a student ward. :)

I've watched all of this with slightly mixed feelings. Mostly I feel relieved that I'm not the one who has to go back to school, but at the same time, I remember the excitement that went along with it. I remember the fun and somewhat outrageous times I had with my roommates and then I think of the stress that came with it such as homework, projects, reading assignments and just trying to figure my life out. I was luckier than most in that I knew from a young age what I wanted to do and have never wavered from it. I have also been blessed enough to find a job in my profession, something I know many people are not able to do.

I realized a few weeks ago that this fall marks the fourth year since I graduated from college. This means I have now been away for as long as I was there. Crazy how fast time passes! I also realized that I had my second anniversary at my job this summer which, again, means that I have now been away for as long as I was there. I feel like I should be at some sort of crossroads in having this realization, but I don't necessarily feel that's the case. I am striving to do good things in my life and to always improve myself, but I think I can do better.

It's just an interesting feeling to think about being done with college for so long. I can still remember what it was like but I'm afraid that I'm starting to forget just a bit. I like to think I can empathize with friends who are still in school. It's just weird to think that college is now an almost entirely separate area of my life. The most important thing at this point is to make sure I'm progressing and not digressing. But I think I'm not doing so bad.