Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written one of these!
And here I am, on my last first day of school (kind of), sitting in the airport
that’s become my second home, waiting for a plane. In this post I’ll talk about
summer and going back, and my next post will begin my weekly updates.
My last summer was spent mostly at home, and I had a
wonderful time. I wasn’t nearly as busy as I’ve been the past three summers; I
had time to do a lot of the independent projects I’ve only been able to work on
on-and-off before this. But there were some exciting events as well – let me
tell you about them.
My parents came up to Boston to help me move my stuff home
for the summer, and we went around Boston and went whale-watching and a few
other things. We did a lot of walking; I was able to take them to the pond you
may remember from my blogs of last year, and we walked around it and just
talked. And then we came home.
The first part of the summer was spent back in Texas,
recovering from a long junior semester as school that ended fairly well. I
started the three crash-courses I was taking from Harvard Business School –
Business Analytics, Economics, and Accounting – and I figured out I did not
want to study accounting, but I did learn a great deal. I also started my
seminary class in Biblical Ethics in Spanish, so I brushed up on my Spanish
literacy.
By the middle of the summer, it was time for my Navy
training cruise, so I headed out on the USS Carl Vincent for three weeks. The
first part of the trip was mainly spent wandering around San Diego; since I was
assigned to the Nuclear Department, but the reactor was shut down, and we
weren’t cleared to go in yet, we had plenty of free time.
There were several adventures on cruise. There were the fun
parts – getting to ride in a helicopter, being catapulted off the deck of the
carrier, watching flight ops and reactor drills, watching San Diego’s
synchronized firework displays from the flight deck for the Fourth of July, and
working out at an amazing gym on base. Then there were the not-so-fun parts –
having half the bathrooms on the ship break down (including all the showering
facilities – another reason the gym was amazing), having night shift for the
nuclear department and day shift for the normal midshipmen activities, getting
lost on a normal basis, getting lost during mustering drills, and etc.
And of course, I couldn’t leave out my wisdom teeth surgery
afloat, which I wasn’t planning until the day before it happened, but went off
without a hitch. I had a lot of pain meds and not much food for the rest of
cruise, and everyone thought the two of us who did it were crazy, but now I
don’t have to worry about it (or paying for it) anymore, so I’m calling it a
win. The oral surgeon and anesthesiologist did a great job, although for a
while afterwards I wasn’t sure if it was the ship or me rocking back and forth.
The third part of the summer was centered around finishing
up my summer classes and our family vacation in the Grand Tetons. We did a lot
of hiking and a lot of sitting in the hot tub, but not much else. We celebrated
both my 21st birthday and my parents’ 33rd anniversary
during the trip. And of course, there were many lunches with friends and
dinners with grandparents and hugs and greetings in church on Sunday mornings.
If you’re reading this, I’m so glad I got to see all of you!
And now it’s back to Harvard for one more year. I’m already
fairly certain of the classes I’m taking (you’ll remember that Harvard doesn’t
make us set our classes until a week in), although I’m not sure of the times
for all of them. I’m only taking one ROTC class this semester instead of two,
and I’m not taking Arabic this semester, so hopefully I won’t be too
overwhelmed, and I’ll have time to take on Worship Team for Christian Impact,
my thesis, another seminary class, and a large ROTC billet in addition to my
normal class schedule.
I’ve been reading back over my very first post on this blog,
and even though it’s hard to see without stepping back, I can tell I’ve grown a
great deal. I still remember the pain and bewilderment of leaving home for
college for the first time, and still further back, the drudgery of heading
back into school after a glorious summer of freedom in grade school.
This is, more or less, the official ending of those things –
my last day of summer, ever, in a sense – but they’ve really already ended. I
had just as much responsibility yesterday as I have today, just as many things
to get done and worry about. I’ll have many more in the next few weeks to add
on, but the weight dropping back onto my shoulders isn’t as much of a shock,
because it never really left entirely.
It’s also lessened by the fact that I have things to be
excited about this semester – things to plan, things to be in charge of, things
to make better, things to make me better. You’ll hear a lot more about those in
coming weeks; for now, wish me luck as I head off for my final fall of college,
and I’ll keep you posted!
Pictures:
This is actually from the end of last semester - my parents brought my class ring up with them!
Until later this week!
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