A New October

Well it's October and the air in Jersey is growing cooler and cooler by the day. Fall is my favorite time of the year and mostly because of the weather but also because Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming. That means I get to go home to NC and see my family and friends. That makes me really excited! October is a new beginning also. Last October I left DC for what I thought would be a two week vacation and it turned into a year long stay. So this October I believe is a new beginning to the next phase of my life. I believe that next October will not find me in the same position or same place emotionally, physically, or professionally. So I am looking to do what I can to enact a new plan for my life. I'm really excited about new change and new phases of my life even though I don't know what they are yet. Speaking of new phases and changes today I learned that my college roommate had her first baby. It is amazing to me because I can remember when I first met her and we became good friends living down the hall from each other. Then the next year we were roommates and we got along really well. Then our last two years of college we were extremely close and she was my best friend from college. We lost contact because distance separated us but my memories of her and our time together as college students will always be dear to me. I am so excited and I can't wait to see her new little baby boy. And I also think about the fact that this year I am out of high school 10 years, college 6 years and graduate school three years. Where are all these years going. The other day I got a message from the reunion committee for my high school class and the questions from the survey they were taking made me angry and sad. Most of the questions had to do with your post high school life, are you married, how many children do you have, what do you do for a living, how long have you been doing that, etc. And the reason I was sad/angry was because my post high school life hasn't followed the formula college, grad school, marriage, and kids. But then I had to talk to myself. What have I been doing since high school? Well I have had many life experiences and I have been building a career. It's been taking longer than some of my classmates but that doesn't mean that it isn't valid or acceptable. It's my path. As for marriage and family, well I don't have control over that and I can't beat myself up over it. But it is still hard to imagine that there has been all of this time that has passed and I am trying to figure out what tangible things I have from it. But I did think about all of the things that I have done over the last ten years and I have accomplished a lot of things that I never imagined I would and that I dreamed that I would also. So I need to learn to be content with my life and to appreciate what I have done, where I have been, and look hopefully and patiently toward the future. Joyce Meyer says that we should adopt the thought pattern of believing and confessing that "Something good is going to happen to me." And I believe that over the next twelve months and in the years to come good things are going to happen to me. The last year and the last year before that were painful but they were stepping stones to where I am going and they are not going to define my future. I'm on my way to a better place!