Oak Trees and Tumbleweeds

Dear new college graduate,  First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! You should be so incredibly proud of yourself. You just survived the last four-ish years of late nights, early mornings, and everything on either side and in between. You made it through all those horrible exams, 8am classes that took attendance and even the hangovers you were sure were going to end you. You most likely experienced some heartbreak, caused by an almost lover or maybe a loss of a friendship you were sure would never end. You figured out what it is like to live on Easy-Mac and gas station burritos. You probably figured out that Folgers is a heck of a lot cheaper than Starbucks, and knew the various happy hour specials across town by heart. You are most likely more than ready to get the heck out of your college town and "really start living life" right? Well let me tell ya, this adulthood thing, is a lot harder than you think. And you are going to miss college. A lot. Real life is hard. It's rew

A year ago today I was three short weeks away from graduating college and embarking on this crazy journey known as adulthood. I was damned and determined to stay in the Midwest; I was convinced that, that was where I was suppose to be, that's where I was going to be most successful, that's where I was going to be happy. Well as many of you know, or for those of you who don't, that's not quite how things worked out.  I did stay in the Midwest for a short few months after graduation (Wreck 'em Tech!) but it turned out to be shy of what I had planned for it to be. Things just didn't work out how I thought they should and frankly I wasn't happy, I was struggling in so many ways. I was struggling with acceptance . I couldn't bring myself to accept the fact that my plan was failing...big time. Through those few months of struggle I had to swallow my pride and begin to accept that God's plan for me didn't align with that plan I had made for me.