A Love Worth Fighting For

Sweet sweet nectar I am home! After many long days and even longer nights I can finally say that it is over, for the next 240 hours at least. Well, minus the time that it is going to take me while I am home to write my paper. But even that is going to be heavenly after this week. Apparently even professors can be caring, sensitive, understanding human beings, who would have thought? And all I had to do was lay down my past week before him. It was not easy or pretty but the meeting ended with an agreement that for a minor penalty I can turn in my twelve page paper on Monday or Tuesday. There is a God.

It seems unreal that I am actually home right now, and even crazier that it has been 5 weeks since I was last here. I am not usually the girl who stays at school every weekend, but this year has proved otherwise. I like, no love, Grove City College this year and I owe that love completely to all of my friends and the friendships that I have developed there this year. I have come to believe that college is all about what you make of it and the people that you hang out with. I am even more excited to see what next year has in store and the friendships that I have yet to strike up. From what I have heard being an R.A. provides you with a support system and friendships so strong they become your family away from home. I will let you know how that goes.

This right here, this is what life is all about. You work hard for weeks on end and then just when you think you are at the end of your rope all of that hard work pays off and you are on your way home. Right now I could not ask for anything more. I have my dog sitting by my feet, the Sabres are on the television, my sister is next to me engrossed in the latest book, my parents are on the couch enjoying a glass of wine, John is playing Spiderman, and there is a fire crackling in the fireplace. Best of all it is nice to sit down and take it all in.

This evening I attended my grandparents 50th anniversary party. I have never seen my grandparents more in love and more appreciative of each other than I have tonight. There were many times tonight that I thought my grandpa was about to cry, and I have never in my 20 years of life seen him that way. How do you find love like that? How do you find love so strong that throughout all of the struggles and temptations life throws at you, you never give up? You continue, despite it all, to love unconditionally. I am sure there were times that they did not always want to love each other, but they did anyways. It amazes me! I saw their old wedding pictures tonight and my grandparents looked so young! My grandma said she was 21 when they got married. And all of her sisters were also 21 when they tied the knot. 21?! I am almost 20. That gives me about one year if I plan on following in her footsteps. I could not even imagine. I mean I do go to Grove City and all, but I think ideally I would like to at least graduate before getting married. Whatever happens, all I know is that I want to find love like that someday. I want to have a 50th wedding anniversary with all of my friends and family there to celebrate. I have a long way to go before that day comes. It is strange to think that many of the people that will be there celebrating that day with me are not even born yet.

Enough. I am done thinking about the future for right now. Instead I am going to focus on the here and now, and just enjoying the place that I am currently at. We spend too much time thinking ahead, dreaming about the future and how much better it is going to be. Then once we get there we continue to dream about what lies ahead. Will we ever be content with the here and now? I sure hope so. I am going to be working on that. I don't need to worry about the past or all that lies ahead. I have been given this moment, right here, right now and I am going to live it. Our futures are in the Lord's hands, let Him do what He wants with them. He knows what He is doing, I promise.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" -Jeremiah 29:11