Oh the Places You'll Go!: May 2013

As I sit here on my falling apart futon on the last Friday night of my Junior year I began thinking about the past year spent in the quad man (my room). I've been blessed by three wonderful roommates this year. Jenn (who's been with me since I was a freshie), Olivia (my car ride home companion), and Carolyn (the rap loving southern bell). While sitting here the four us are all in the room doing our own thing. Olivia and I are sitting in our usual spots on the futon. Jenn is at her desk, doing the usual skype chat probably, and Carolyn is perched up in her bed where half the time you don't notice she's up there because her huge duvet encapsulates her as well as the whole bed. Things seem to be normal. Yet I can't help but think that it's not normal.

Next year all four of us will be living in different separate places. Carolyn and I will be on the wing again next year. I'll be in a different room. Jenn and Olivia will both be living in the Campbell apartments in different floors and rooms. I've grown to love the simple yet complex lifestyle that has been formed in the quad man this year. I remember a year ago the four of us sitting up to a coffee table eating FroYo with a to scale diagram of the room trying to figure out the best living arrangement for our furniture. After 2 hours we finally found the setup that we have been living with for the past 9 months. I think of all the late night futon to desk to pillow talks that were had in the room. The laughter and crying that occurred in our room. To be a fly on the wall of the quad man would be a very interesting thing to watch sometimes. All four of us have very different callings and passions in our lives. Yet we have become the best of friends through the past year of living with one another. I'm so thankful for the small family that I have lived with this year. It was so nice to go home to my family in Wheaton but it was so comforting to know that when I returned I would come back to roommates that I can call sisters.

I titled this entry "Third Times the Charm" because it seems to be the phrase that people through around when they have messed up and say that by the third time you should be able to do said thing better than the previous two tries. So, Junior year. The third year of college. I went into this year with one goal in mind. That goal was to grow genuine friendships with those in my major, Christian Educational Ministries. Looking back on the past year I can say that I definitely feel that I achieved this goal. We have been a tight knit family. I have especially noticed this during the past semester. When one of us is going through a trial in our lives we share it with one another. A moment later we are all bowing our heads in prayer to lift the situation up to the Lord. I can picture multiple scenarios where my CE family has been able to pick up the slack for me in ways that they don't even realize. As different as we all are from each other we have learned to love one another and to grow with one another in Christ. So now that I've gotten this sappy stuff out of the way I'm going to head to my usual top 10 list. So here goes nothing the Top 10 of my Junior Year. I'm even going to add pictures. Yea you read that right! PICTURES! Also, these pictures are invaluable to the number they are given! I wish I could put them all at number 1 but that defeats the point of a top 10 list I guess.

10. My first roommate outing of Junior year to the Matthew's Covered Bridge Festival.