Monday, March 25, 2013


               Hey look!  There is a fork in the road!

“I am no scientist. I explore the neighborhood. An infant who has just learned to hold       up his head has a frank and forthright way of gazing about him in bewilderment. He hasn’t the faintest clue where he is, and he aims to find out." - Annie Dillard 

                                     This week of spring break my friend from Texas
                                     let me use her car while she is at home.  A car is
                                     like a pair of wings.  I feel so free!  Driving through
                                     the little New York towns, winding among old
                                     buildings, cemeteries, and big estate homes.  I
                                     realized that I have never really needed to go explore
                                     new places since I have lived in the same city my whole
                                     life.  The only time that I truly had complete freedom to
                                     go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted was in Paris.
                                     And I did.  For 10 wonderful days I explored that city,
                                     and even still saw hardly any of it.  But it was wonderful.                                                        

                             
“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss.” - Ransom Riggs
      
                                                               It seems like a long time from now...two whole years!
                                                               But pretty soon I won't have to be in college any more.
                                                               And as much as I may want to fly right back to Colorado
                                                               to live in the comfort of my childhood home, I know that
                                                               I will pull up my big-girl pants and make myself do the hard
                                                               thing and find a job in a place where I may not know anyone.
                                                               And I may have a whole new place to explore as much as I want.


                                                           

Sunday, March 24, 2013

This guy writes some deep stuff.

That particular post really stuck out to me.  During my time in college this idea of having "multiple personalities" based on my environment or the people I am with has been on my mind a lot.  It's no lie that the Olivia that my friends at college know is very different from the Olivia my friends in Colorado know, not to mention the Olivia that my family knows or that my churchmates (I made that word up, fyi) know.

Sometimes this can be a negative thing.  Sometimes it simply can't be helped.

But never before have I truly realized that while there is no person on earth who knows me 100% (not even myself)...God does.  Scary.  (And it is meant to be that way).  The Bible says that He loves me..all 100% of me.  That is why He is so amazing!  My parents say they love me unconditionally, but they will never have to because they will never truly know all of the nitty-gritties in my heart and mind!  If I ever get married, my husband will know me better than any person on earth, yet his knowledge of and love for me will not even compare to God's!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Dark chocolate is my favorite.

Hey from New York.  I am sitting up in a loft room we have on the 4th floor of my dorm looking out over the amazing view we have of the Hudson River and brightly lit Tapanzee Bridge.  Trains chug back and forth along the riverbank, heading towards the city (or upstate).  Cars are lined up right now on the roads and bridge, everyone trying to get home after a long day of work.  "Wow," I thought to myself earlier.  "I live in New York."  Little me from Colorado Springs, Colorado, could hop on a bus anytime and be in the middle of Times Square within the hour.

This semester has literally FLOWN by.  Probably faster than any others.  If I don't have a grade-making (or breaking) test one week, then I use that week to prepare for the next week when I will have a test (or two).  It's so hard for me to live my life where each minute counts.  The five minutes it takes me to write this blog post are five minutes I could have used to memorize something like how much urinary output in a 24-hour period is normal for each age group of people form birth to death.  (Which is something I need to know for my next test).

Nursing school is hard...hard hard hard hard.  Halfway through the semester I am beginning to realize that if I want to pass nursing school it will take a miracle.  And lots and lots and lots of hard work.  Honestly, I don't think I'm that hard of a worker (despite what everyone who knows me says) so nursing school is looking really daunting right now.

But on a more hopeful note, I've had a few experiences this last week that have spurred me on to work hard (right after I finish this post).  This week a FREAKING AWESOME missionary nurse from South Africa (originally from New Jersey, though) came to tell us about her life as a nurse in Africa.  All I could think as she talked was, "I want to do that, I want to do that, I want to do that."

Maybe one day I will.