4 years in 4 days. it is finished.

day one.
welp, today at 12:38pm PST I finished what I have been working towards since the beginning of september in 2007. it quite funny, even writing this, my brain feels lethargic and does not want to think about studying, writing or thinking anything academic..but here I am. why you might ask? because these past four years have been transformational, life giving and full of surprise and I feel the need to document it in some way or another. it was my sophomore year that I heard the quote below. I did not take up any of it until this year though, how silly am i :) better late than never.

“There are three things to leave behind : your photographs ,your library , and your personal journals.These things are certainly going to be more valuable to future generations than your furniture.”

-Jim Rohn

1. Photographs: I have always loved them. There is something about documenting a moment in time that will never come true again that is full of mystery and an odd sense of anticipation..almost as if you can relive the moment upon every remembrance of the picture.

dance party on 1st north with my sister and her girls ( who were also my age). october 2007

2. library: i never liked to read until this past january. I am not sure how i started to like it, but I'm glad i did. secretly I always wanted to be like my sister and sit in my bedroom for hours while being lost in a book, but sadly, i would always get bored. however, when i read a sweet book on friendship in january,i started to love it. then, my birthday rolled around in february and three friends bought me books! I was so happy and excited to learn. 

3. journal: another thing I did not do until last september( 2010). I guess you could call blogging, "journalling" but i did not take that up until a month ago. whatever..back to the point. A.W. Tozer once said to have journalled is to have lived twice. sort of like what I said happens when i look at pictures, that is how i feel when i re-read my journal, but here it is on a much deeper level. with pictures--most of the time--they bring back happy feelings of wonderful trips while making funny faces, and they make you laugh..but re-reading a journal can cut a little deeper. the journal holds all this passion and emotion that can be felt each time while reading it. whether it is sad or happy or a state of confusion, the emotion is written on the page to be remembered forever. along with that however, reading an entry of something full of pain and hurt, and seeing the distance you have taken in strength and growth is such a chasm. i like these remembrances because they bring me back to grace, mercy and hope in jesus.

although none of these three things that i love started not too long ago, there have been defining moments starting with september of 2007 that will forever be known and "journalled" in my psyche. from living in adams 105, to my first dinner in the caf by the big windows...memories overwhelm me when i think back on the past four years...and to think that it is done, is just well......transformative.

till tomorrow, 

erica