A New Adventure Begins

After weeks and weeks, perhaps even MONTHS of pressure from one Diana Lindsey Hewlett, I am finally starting a blog. Welcome to my online version of "Dear Diary". So, here you go. A little look into the randomness that is my not-so-exciting life. I hope you enjoy it.

When I think about it, now is really a great time to start blogging. After all, it's the first day of the rest of my life...well, at least the "foreseeable future". That's right, I'm starting grad school today...hello schoolwork, goodbye social life. Here I am, waiting for my very first class, and I can't help but ask myself the question, "What the heck are you thinking???". It's been 3 years since I have been in class, I'm kind of hoping school is a little bit like riding a bike...you never really forget how to procrastinate, right??

The thing that's most exciting about starting school are the adventures that lie ahead. Life is one big adventure, and honestly, you can't be afraid to just take the plunge every now and then. It's scary, but sometimes you just have to do it. I remember this one time, at church camp, I decided it would be a good idea to jump of the high-dive. Now, for anyone who knows the first thing about me, you probably know where this story is going. I mean, the girl who can barely look out of a second story window without feeling sick to her stomach decides to jump off of a little bouncing board that's 20 feet in the air...really? I don't really know what possessed me to do it. Perhaps it was the thought that maybe, just maybe, splashing into the pool from that high up would be fun. Or, most likely, it was the fact that all of my friends were doing it and were giving me a hard time because I wasn't. Whatever it was that came over me, I'm sure the people in line behind me wished I had trusted my gut instincts and stayed in the shallow end. At any rate, I marched my little 9-year-old self over to the line for the high-dive, carefully scaled the ladder, walked to the end of the board, and.........

I was frozen. I stood there, looking down at the water trying to get the courage to jump, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fling myself off of the end of that board into what I was positive was certain death. I called out in fear, hopeful that someone would climb up the ladder and save me, because I knew that I couldn't come back down the way I had come up. But there was no such luck. The board was too small for two people, and it would have been a safety issue for someone to be under me in the pool to catch me when I jumped. So there I was, all alone, trying to gather the courage to take the plunge. After what seemed like an eternity, eventually I did it--I jumped off the end, bounced up out of the water and immediately headed for the shallow end, which I didn't leave again for the rest of my time at camp.

Have I ever jumped off the high-dive again? No. Will I ever? No. But here's the thing...I tried it. You have to try everything once, because even though there is always some ounce of uncertainty involved in every adventure, you never know when you'll discover something that you truly love, and even if it's only a one-time thing after which you realize you never want to do it again, you'll always be glad you gave it a go.

So here I am now, about to jump off the high-dive that is graduate school. One minute, I'm looking down at the water and thinking, "Whoa, I think I'm going to be sick...". At other times, I'm thinking, "Hmm...this isn't necessarily as high as I thought it was going to be when I was climbing that ladder." Either way, I'm taking the plunge. Here goes nothing--hold your breath, close your eyes, say a little prayer, and dive!

How was the splash? I'll let you know when I hit the water...