Uncharted Territory

(Insert clever, cheesy photo of self driving into the unknown future here)

(check)

So the odds are kind of stacked up against this year. This school year.

Already.

a. no roommate

b. Arkie?

c. Rhonda's resignation

d. work load

e. la petite maison blanche

Only a short list. But you know what's weird? I am so excited to go back. Freshman year I totally didn't know what to expect, almost to the point of being scared. Last year I knew enough of what to expect to the point of dread. Not like any one thing was dreadful, but I knew the routine and was not exactly pumped to get back into it. The curveballs came anyway and I found out quick fast and in a hurry that I truly, ultimately had no idea what to expect.

So that's how I'm approaching this semester. Expecting a lot of things, but truly not knowing what to expect. It's going to be a new normal. We're all in such different places than we were when we began school. Which, I am finding, is not a bad thing. It just makes things, well, different. But we'll learn, as we always do, to adapt and have fun and be.

And I am thrilled. To live and learn. Emphasis on the learn. But really on the live.

It's uncharted territory, whatever is coming. A clean start. Not entirely detached from the journey we've traveled thus far, but distanced enough from the paved way that it's like starting over. We're beginning a new leg. How we do so, given the past, is entirely up to us, now.

I choose optimism and faith. I choose patience and trust. I choose communication and diligence. I expect rough, but I hope to see the ground paved smooth.

And I choose to rely on God in the process. Oh what a process it will be.

Though from where He's sitting, the territory is hardly daunting. You might even say it's charted.

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." -Deuteronomy 31:8