out of the wilderness

It’s been my second week of nursing school and, despite all my insecurities leading up to this, it’s been really good.

The past year and a half out of college have been far from horrible, but not exactly optimal either. While everyone else was working great jobs, getting engaged&married, or deep into school programs, I felt at a standstill and at square one. It’s one thing to talk about future plans, but another to actually be advancing on those. Discontentment was, unfortunately, the name of my game.  Now that I’ve finallyy started, I feel like I’m out of the wilderness. That there’s progression. That I’m no longer wandering (not that I’ve been wandering 40 years…).

I don’t want to say that my joy is circumstantial because it is certainly not, nor am I at the end of the tunnel (esp with starting a 2-year program? Definitely not!), but it is wonderful seeing forward momentum.

While the past 1.5 years had its low points, I have SO much to be thankful for during my time off. I returned to my OG city love, SF. I ate a lot of good food with even better friends. I found a new church family and have been l-o-v-i-n-g it, maybe minus the long drives. I visited Boston, Philly (x2), and NYC (x2, and now my other city love). I visited HK for my first solo trip and added stamps from Japan, England, and France to my passport. I learned new, hard lessons and kept relearning the same ones about identity.

Suffice to say, it’s so weird to think this “chapter” is over, even though I’m staying in the same place. Excited for what’s to come though (:

nostalgia

B visited this past weekend to finish packing things as his parents recently sold their house. T, B & I wanted to hang out, but ended up back at his house anyway since everything in Millbrae closes at 11pm.  Since we all lived in Warren the first two years of college, we spent at least an hour or so reminiscing and laughing about crazy moments and just talking about life in a half-empty house. It was really nice since having late night chats hasn’t really happened so organically since moving home. I haven’t really done it without worrying about my unofficial curfew or allotting 30 minutes of commute time. It’s just not the same as college,  knowing each of your beds is only a 5-minute walk or drive away and that you’re not bothering anyone’s parents. It was also strange for me to realize how the three of us are in really different parts of life now 5 years after dorm life. Not that I’ve known it’s true, but it was nice. Nostalgia, how you get me.