The years are growing shorter, and 2013 seemed like it happened in the blink of an eye. It was full of growing up and priorities and ache and surprises and joy. I can't say that 2013 was my favorite, but it certainly was a necessary chapter connecting what was before to whatever comes ahead.
The year started on the tail end of the most complete and fulfilling experience of my life thus far. Durban was a high like I've never felt before, and coming off it wasn't easy. In mid-January I returned to the ordinary life of a D.C. college student. With occasional peaks of excitement, such as the presidential inauguration, life seemed mostly dull and stressful compared to the carefree self that I had come to know while abroad. My classes didn't interest me much, and I was crushed by a rejection for a position that I had coveted for my entire college career. However, I quickly found myself guided into filling the shoes of a different role and was challenged for the better.
The end of the semester brought adventure as I landed two internships. The first was by complete chance and took me to the African continent again. In June, I traveled to Tanzania with African Community Exchange to work in an elementary school, and I was overjoyed that my friend Jill joined me. I exhaled a long-awaited sigh of relief and relished in the slower lifestyle and relationships I was able to embark on within two short weeks. I delighted at the forgotten joy of tasting a new language and worked hard to share my native vocabulary with the Bethel students. I was inspired by the story of the school and the local pastor who made it possible. I'm still carrying those quickly-built relationships in my heart, and I can only hope for a chance to return someday.
Immediately after returning from Tanzania, I began interning in Bethesda Magazine's web department. I fell in love with the atmosphere of a community-based publication and even found myself working - again, by chance - with the art department. I found my niche, gained valuable experience, and was invited to come back for the upcoming spring semester.
Despite the new opportunities and experiences I was given on the east coast and abroad, I also missed out on regular summer events back home in Iowa, such as our mission center reunion camp at Guthrie Grove. I love my church family in Iowa deeply, and it was difficult knowing I was missing an event that has been the highlight of my summer for over ten years and a necessary opportunity to refresh myself. Nevertheless, I was able to finish my summer at the Chesapeake Bay Mission Center's reunion in August and was unexpectedly filled with the familiar peace I'd been looking for. Yet again, new relationships were forged, and I was blessed.
The final year of my college career commenced, and I was confronted with senior-level journalism classes that repeatedly took their toll physically, mentally, and emotionally. I realized I was spread thin through my many responsibilities, but, stubborn as I am, worked through them. Throughout the course of the semester, short retreats at a church campground in Pennsylvania and the friendships I found there blessed me in incredible ways and probably kept me sane, quite literally.
At the end of the semester, I boarded a plane headed "home." It's true that I've returned to my parents and sister who I love more than anything, but I'm beginning to feel the pull of something new driven by the confidence and support that I've found in so many unexpected places this past year. Looking back over 2013, I see moments of disorientation regularly met with new doors to open and opportunities to explore parts of myself that I hadn't before. Sitting here typing, I'm awe of these blessings and feeling guilty for ever having a moment of doubt.
2013 was a year of stretching and twisting and back-bending, but I think I came out on the other side a more confident woman than I would have been otherwise. To 2014, and a continuing faith that the answer will always come someway, somehow.
Here we go.
