24 more days!

The school supply aisles have been stocked at all the stores around town and in three weeks I will attend my first college class! I am so ready to start this new chapter of my life. Move in day is the 18th and I am so ready to get settled in with all of my stuff! I have so many things and so little space. I absolutely adore my roommate and I cannot wait to become better friends. I am still struggling with the fact that everything is going to be different this year. This is the first summer that I have not had to be at summer marching band practices and I get a little sad when I see Instagram or Facebook photos depicting other people's band memories. This will also be the first year that I will not be taking dance classes at the studio where I first learned to shuffle-step. This was the place I escaped to when I had a bad school day and it was where I learned how to act with grace. My instructor retired just this year and it seems weird that I will not be driving to the studio every Monday like I have always done since I was three. I am glad I still have opportunities to dance elsewhere but it all seems too unfamiliar right now. In fact, everything is going to start feeling unfamiliar and I am anxious as the time approaches for me to leave the nest. This is the first time I will not be living at my home for an extended amount of time and that is a little scary. Even though I am literally moving down the street from my house, I feel too young to be moving out of my childhood home. Depending on how it goes, I may have to come right back! I am a little anxious to be independent so soon. I am ready to embrace everything that will be coming with this Fall but I am not entirely prepared to let go of everything else! I am definitely ready to get back into a routine when school starts (especially one that involves early morning workouts and late night reading). I am also ready to start studying for school and working on crafty projects. Yes, that is the level of boredom that I tend to reach about this time of Summer. I am so ready to begin this journey that will map out the rest of my life and I cannot wait to start learning new things about myself and the world around me. But I also want to enjoy the ride!

Simply put: Dear College, ready or not, here I come!