Well, somehow or another I got through it. The semester ended last Thursday, and this online course I'm taking began Monday, so I won't really get a break until June. I kind of stumbled through finals, but did just well enough to squeak by with all A's again, so that's kind of nice. And crazy. (I got an A in math?)
Had a lot of sleepless nights and stressful days, but God guided me through it all, and he provided the aid I needed just when it was needed most, over and over again. Phone call here, email there, letter or card occasionally...
Far too many hymns to list were often remembered and their truth savored; and country music again proved why it's the greatest genre of all, since it's about life, and everything that happens in it.
Besides people, the other things that got me through the school year were a bakery; Chick-Fil-A; a blog run by a Mormon lawyer; reruns of "MacGyver", "Full House", and "Boy Meets World"; a YouTube channel run by a trio of homeschool graduates; my guitar Abby Lee and mandolin; and long walks through rain-coated streets. Many long walks.
Thankful for the prayers and encouragement of my GBC family, especially Dylan and Steven. Samara was helpful as well with getting through those first couple months. The large camp network was invaluable; prayers of Brother Larry and Miss Kathy; the advice and laughter, muddling through this mess of life alongside Daniel, Jessica, Amanda, Jon, Ash and Matt, just to name a few. And most of the YT gang was going through some of the same experiences I was, so we could compare notes and complaints. Staying in touch with Aubrey, Adam, Tauri, Ryan W., Chance, Lorene and Lisbeth, mainly.
And my family, of course. Nice to have relatives you can spend the weekends with; or drop in once in a while for dominoes, music and ping pong.
It was really cool getting to know Ryan and Shelly and their family, felt a lot like home.
"Home"...that's a hard concept to exactly understand. Where exactly is it? What defines somewhere as a "home" base? Why can multiple places feel that way at the same time? And what on earth is it that I've been searching for over the last few months? Something to do with this concept...
Tried going to the CCF meetings, it was the group that Mom, Dad and Ryan had all been a part of when they were in school, but that didn't work out so well. A big question I've been dealing with lately-ish is "When is no teaching more beneficial than poor teaching?" So it was an off-and-on type of thing, went occasionally out of guilt, but nearly always felt much more depressed leaving than when I came, and that was at a pretty good level already.
Found a pretty-good church within walking distance to attend when possible, Grace Baptist is about a fifteen-to-twenty minute walk from my dorm, depending on the weather, how much a hurry I'm in, and other things that come up.
Ran into my old neighbor Katie and her husband Trevor, who was on my basketball team a long time ago, one day during lunch, it was good to catch up with them. They tried to get me to come to the BCM meetings weekly, and I knew a couple other people who were part of that group, so I thought for a while about checking it out one night. (My classmate Mallory, Trevor's cousin Bree, my neighbor Stephen two doors down, and this dude named Andrew, a Media Studies major fixing to graduate.) So one night in early February, I think, I poked my nose tentatively in the BCM building, unsure of what to expect. It was good, and people were friendly. Good teaching would probably be nearby with some more in-depth sniffing, still need to check on that. But anyway, these people actually seemed like they were seeking to grow in Christ and encourage others in their spiritual walks, which was very appealing. Slowly getting to know some of those people, Stephen, Mallory, Daniel P., and the Samanthas(known to everyone as Blonde and Redhead).
Actually going to classes was an adjustment, for the most part I didn't learn much from fall semester. Enjoyed my psychology course, our teacher was this entertaining, common-sense-filled old man, and the community feel was interesting. A tight-knit group, with a lot of characters. The same could be said for Intro to Media Studies, lots of crazy things happened in that classroom. Comp I was a disaster, but we had one interesting day where we talked about Star Wars the entire time. Being homeschooled was slightly a disadvantage, as I had to quickly learn a crash-course in "How to Write an Essay". Thankfully, Jess was happy to explain how MLA format worked. My history class was fantastic, since my teacher loved the subject and wanted us to find out as many new things as we could.
This spring I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but Basic Writing was challenging and good; not completely relying solely on instinct in journalism any longer, have most of the rules down now. Comp II was a trial at times, but really stretched my writing and research capabilities, which was good. And like Dr. Fuller or Mr. Carlisle or Cassie, Jason wanted us to really learn our subject. Mr. Shamblin was a lot like Brother Larry, which made for an interesting experience, seeing him every day in two classes. Computers was required, but I learned some useful stuff, and I was able to understand most of the stuff we went over in math. There wasn't really anyone to compare myself to in any of these classes, so that was disappointing and frustrating, always having to race myself, instead of a friendlyish rival to compete with.
Also kept in touch with Alton, it's been kind of fun to listen to his take on life as a married person. Occasionally heard from Maddie as well. Mark Twain said once that "I can live for a week on a good compliment; sometimes even a month, if it's a specially-good one." At one point, she told me this: "To be honest, you're a lot stronger than you think." That echoed through my mind often over the months, helped a lot, in some odd way.
One of the biggest things I learned this year was how weak I am, how much I need God to guide me and keep me on the right path. And also that no matter how much we wish we could change others' lives, we can only control our own, and not too well at that.
Over the last year, I have graduated from high school; attended two weddings; hiked six miles through a dry river; observed with horror the apathy of college sports crowds; written about peanut butter, fairy tales, thunderstorms, goat milk and a beauty pageant; lost a couple of friends; choked down terrible food; X-rayed a cat; practiced songwriting; been invited to join a band and generally survived with most of my personality quirks intact.
The blog I mentioned is http://www.itjustgetsstranger.com, you must check out the Snuggie Texts first, and then proceed to whatever else of Eli's highly-entertaining posts you wish to peruse. You're welcome.
And the YouTube channel is the group called Blimey Cow, their videos can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/blimeycow Highly hilarious, with heavy doses of snarky commentary on the oddities of life and culture.
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