Skills of a lost generation.

I was sewing a button back on one of my dresses this evening when I realized something. While I am perfectly capable of sewing on a button, it still probably takes me twice as long as it would take my mother or my grandmother to do.

I have a feeling that my grandmother's generation is the last of its kind. The kind that had practical skill. The skill of cooking, cleaning, sewing, changing the oil on my car.
When I have grandchildren of my own, are they going to know me for my fabulous cooking? The idea of grandma's home cooking will have disappeared into the wind. It'll be a myth, an old wives tale. Grandma's who can cook?

Maybe it's just me, but in the midst of my university student, part-time worker life, I don't have the time nor the interest to sit down and learn how to use a sewing machine to mend holes in ripped jeans or alter a dress that is just slightly too long.
Nobody has ever taught me how to make pot roast, or potato salad like my Oma makes it. Sure I can follow a recipe. I can cook. I can make delicious food. But, it doesn't come naturally. I don't have a lot of practice.
I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at when I open the hood of my car. And I wouldn't have a clue when it comes to changing a tire.

We say that we've made progress in the past 40 years, but we've really just switched our perspective. Instead of learning how to 'keep house' on our own, we go to university, to get well-paying jobs and will allow us to pay other people to 'keep house' for us.
We've traded in practical skill for academics. And we're still just as smart. But we're smart in a different way.

I remember sitting down with my mom when I was about 9 years old. We picked out some fabric, a pattern, and she taught me how to sow. I ended up making an entire outfit (hideous if you ask me, or if you look at our old family albums, but nevertheless, I did it on my own).
But it wasn't a skill that I harnessed. It doesn't fit in in with my lifestyle. Or maybe its the other way around.

All I know is that there's something sad in knowing that I'll probably never have the chops that my grandmother does when I'm her age. I'll have to keep practicing. Hopefully by the time I'm married I'll be able to make a mean pot roast.

Our society loves pushing women's rights. Loves seeing women climb the social ladder to become doctors, CEO's, researchers, you name it. Even I'm thinking about one day doing my doctorate.

But if you ask me, there is something honourable in the skills my grandmother has. She has an answer for everything. And I would never take for granted one of her good home cooked meals.

The Father's Love Letter

My child,  

You may not know me, but I know everything about you. - Psalm 139:1 

 

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.  - Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways. - Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. - Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image. - Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being. - Acts 17:28 

For you are my offspring. - Acts 17:28 

I knew you even before you were conceived. - Jeremiah 1:4-5 

I chose you when I planned creation. - Ephesians 1:11-12 

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. - Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. - Acts 17:26 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. - Psalm 139:14 

I knit you together in your mother's womb. - Psalm 139:13 

And brought you forth on the day you were born. - Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. - John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. - 1 John 4:16 

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. - 1 John 3:1 

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. - 1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. - Matthew 7:11 

For I am the perfect father. - Matthew 5:48 

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. - James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. - Matthew 6:31-33 

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 

Because I love you with an everlasting love. - Jeremiah 31:3 

My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. - Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17 

I will never stop doing good to you. - Jeremiah 32:40 

For you are my treasured possession. - Exodus 19:5 

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. - Jeremiah 32:41 

And I want to show you great and marvelous things. - Jeremiah 33:3 

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. - Deuteronomy 4:29 

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. - Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires. - Philippians 2:13 

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. - Ephesians 3:20 

For I am your greatest encourager. - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. - Psalm 34:18 

As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. - Isaiah 40:11 

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. - Revelation 21:3-4 

And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. - Revelation 21:3-4 

I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. - John 17:23 

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. - John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being. - Hebrews 1:3 

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. - Romans 8:31 

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 

His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. - 1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. - Romans 8:31-32 

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. - 1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. - Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. - Luke 15:7 

I have always been Father, and will always be Father. - Ephesians 3:14-15 

My question is…Will you be my child? - John 1:12-13 

I am waiting for you. - Luke 15:11-32

Love your Dad, Almighty God

Chocolate Brownie.

After a full day of studying, I had no choice. I just had to grab the keys at 20 after 7 and go out for an icecream run. I thought about going to marble slab, but my mother reminded me that it's expensive, and also slipped me some money to go buy a carton at No Frills. Can't argue with the dollar bills.
Yum icecream.
So, I came home with some president's choice chocolate brownie ice cream.
It was slightly over the top on the decadent factor. You can never really know by just looking at the picture. So deceeeeiving. But chocolate always is.
Question though, why do we always feel the need to place "chocolate" before the word brownie. I mean the colour of chocolate is brown. Brown is already in the word brownie. It's just redundant. No need to say it twice. Any chocolate lover is gonna know that brownie means chocolate.
With my icecream fix satisfied, I sat down on the couch to watch me some SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.
Perfect way to spend the eve of my final exam. Yes sir.

Speak Tenderly To Me

I don't really know what to say. But, I thought that the new layout deserved a new post.

Take a look at the phrase written under the title of this blog.

Bring me into the wilderness and speak tenderly to me. 

It comes from Hosea 3:14-15 which says 

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope." 

This verse has been very poignant to me as of late. 

Let me break it down for you.

The wilderness represents a season where God purposely removes something from your life. He's promised you something. He's given you a desire, but he has yet to fulfill it. You know he's faithful, you know he's working on it. But, his answer is at that "Not yet" state that we impatiently dread. But, it's a "Not yet" because he wants to prepare you in some way, and because He wants to meet with you and show you himself.

When I think of the world "Wilderness", the words drought, barren, dry, empty, void come to mind. But, I love how God paints a completely different picture. 

In this verse in Hosea, he comes to allure Her (being the people of Israel who have sinned) into the wilderness. Where He then speaks tenderly to her. 

In other words, God wants to spend time with her, to reveal himself to her. It's full of love, and intimacy, and understanding. 

He purposefully brings her there. 

And after her speaks to her, and tenderly at that, she finds herself in a vineyard. A place of life, growth, fruitfulness, and blessing. A place where God turns her trouble (the meaning of Achor) into hope. 

There is just so much packed into two tiny verses.

Three things I've figured out about the "wilderness" from reading my bible:

*If you want specific references, I can give them to you. Leave me a comment. 

1. We never lack anything that we need in the wilderness.

2. God shows up in the wilderness.

3. The wilderness is always followed by a promised land. 

Stew on that for a while. I know I've been. 

K

It is finished.

I choose you Jesus. Come be my one thing.

My hope is in you Lord

I am steadfast, I will not be moved.

An anchor, never shaken. 

My hope is in you.

Friends

In this very purposeful season of my life, I'm realizing I have 3 things:

1. God. faithful, unconditionally loving, ever-present in my life. 
2. Family. gotta love ya, always will. 
3. Friends. transitional groups of people that mean a whole heck of a lot to you for certain seasons in your life. 

It's important to never take any of those three for granted. But, for the purposes of today, that statement applies specifically to #3.
It wasn't until I ventured off to University that I realized how quickly friends can come into your life and leave without further notice. You start realizing that you're not the only one that has a life, so do your friends. And sometimes, for any extenuating circumstance, that life does not or cannot include the friendship.

I remember in 7th grade, my teacher told the class that the friends you have in elementary school will most certainly not be the friends that you have in high school and university. I didn't believe him, openly claiming that I would be best friends with _________ and __________ and ___________ (fill in the blanks) for the rest of my life. That school, distance, and circumstances would not able to pull apart the bond that had been so beautifully formed in the early years of my childhood.

I'm realizing now that I was wrong. Now, it's not impossible for a friendship to stay alive when school, distance, or circumstances get in the way, but It does become incredibly difficult. For a friendship to survive, three things need to be there:

1. The friendship needs to be mutual. This may sound incredibly banal. But it's not. It's important to establish that you both have the desire to pursue the relationship.

2. Friendship needs to be fought for. It's not easy to keep a friendship going. It takes effort, time, communication, understanding. It's not easy.

3. A friendship needs to develop. This is simply because we as individuals are continuing to develop and change. Our lives, jobs, schools, passions are in a constant state of flux (This being directed to the young adult of course) Our friendship needs to change with us. It can't be stagnant. We can't live off of "yesterday's" memories. Wasn't it great when .... We need to be able to form new memories.

All this to say that these past few years have made me incredibly appreciative of my friends. I know how quickly it can slip away. I know what it feels like when it does.

To all my of my friends, Thank you. I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you.

De-Clutter

I don't really know where it sprang up from, the urge to de-clutter my room. All I know is that late Sunday evening I was sitting on the floor going through the shelves on my bookcase, discovering lost papers, photo albums, lifesaving manuals, and books all wrapped in dust - a sign that I hadn't looked at, nor cared about these items in a long time.

One thing you need to know about me. Deep down somewhere, I really do love to organize. I remember one time in high school, when I organized the entire prop room for my drama class with a few other girls. We started with a room that "didn't have a floor" and finished with a beautifully organized masterpiece of costumes, hats, and fabric. It was so clean, and we had created so much new space, that Peters, our drama teacher, actually used the room for final year monologue performances. Yup.

But I digress.

Over the past few days I have spent several hours going through every box, shelf, and container. I've been throwing away things that I never use, and putting away into storage old school assignments, drama scripts, agendas, and certificates that I still care about but that certainly don't need to be in my room all year round. I'm serious, I was finding school assignments from early elementary school on my bookshelf. Unnecessary.

I've been at it now for about two days, and am only starting to feel like I've made a dent. The thing is, once I start, I can't stop. I can't just do one shelf, because then I have to do all the shelves. I can't just do my shelves because then I need to do my desk drawers. Which makes me do my night-side table, and my closet, and my files ..... The list goes on.

I feel like its more than just an organizational rampage though. It's more like a passage into adulthood? A time that I can spend decluttering my heart as well as my physical room. (Try and find the symbolism there why don't you) God's calling me to a new season. I've also just turned 20. Maybe there's a correlation between all these elements. Maybe there isn't. I'll let you judge for yourself. As for me, there are a few more boxes I need to go through.

K

Here we are.

It amazes me how quickly I'm able to leave behind the hecticness of university and enter into summer holidays. As if it never happened. And I end up talking about it as if I'm some expert who knows all the ins and outs of the course and could tell you the best advice on how to pass it. I forget my previous woes and am thrust, yet again, into a new massive transition. Summer.

The life of a university student, as I am discovering, is one of constant flux. Nothing stays the same for long. Things are always changing. I go through two semesters in study mode. Then I have two months here in Toronto with too much free time on my hands. Then I go back to Quebec. Then I come back to school. Then I go to France. Then I come back home. It's a constant cycle of change. A whirlwind that is sweeping you forward in a (not always) clear direction. It's hard to put down roots. To establish yourself. You just need to keep moving. Because time doesn't stop to wait for you to catch your breath.

In a way, it's a little bit intimidating to have 4 months stretching out before me. How am I going to fill up that many days? I feel the need to accomplish something significant; to make use of my time. I've just been handed a pile of free time. More than I need for sure. It's easy to slip into a unproductive rut where I end up doing nothing day in and day out. It's the opposite extreme of studying. So, I try to find a happy medium.

I'm currently out of work. I still have my shift at the pool each week. But all my other job opportunities have sort of fell through.

What am I going to do with this free time you ask? (Or what would I like to do ...)

1. Read my bible. Seek the Lord.
2. Try and get some replacement shifts at the pool.
3. Take a 5 week summer course.
4. Prepare for my international exchange
5. Get together with my friends.
6. Play piano
7. Learn to cook
8. Find a way to continue improving my french
9. Possibly volunteer somewhere
10. Try and embrace the whirlwind of change 

We'll see.

Apparently, I can cook!

My friend Kayla and I just turned 1 year older this month (Her 22, me 20).
And so we decided to celebrate.
But the springtime is being shy, so due to the cold weather and the forecast of rain, we needed to be creative and find something fun to do indoors.
Put together:

• 1 new cookbook 
• 1 trip to No Frills
• Jane Eyre
• Free Parking Ticket
• A craving for Chicken Parmesan
• Fabulous conversation
• And the need to try something new

And you end up with an amazing way to celebrate the birthdays two young women on the brink of a beautiful friendship.

After watching a great girly matinee, eating smuggled treats, we came home and made a fabulous meal of Chicken Parmesan, Caesar Salad, Sparkling Juice, and Pillsbury Dough Boy Icecream Sandwiches. You would never had been able to guess we don't cook on a regular basis. It was delicious!

Stay Sane, Have a Brain Break.

Even I, with my on-task, organized, plan-ahead, cannot procrastinate personality, have a hard time staying sane during exam time.
I feel like a broken record that keeps on repeating the same part over and over again. Probably because all I've been doing since last Wednesday is study every day.
I always create a goal for the day. How much material I'd like to study for the day. Generally when I finish that goal, even if its early, I call it quits.

But, my brain is starting to shut off earlier in the day now. Come 5:30pm, I'm done. No more concentration.
My days are filled with endless study. My evenings are filled with doing absolutely nothing.

I have an exam tomorrow morning at 9am, and then one final exam on Thursday.
Come Thursday afternoon, I will be on a bus to Montréal. (For the weekend, don't worry I'm coming back)

K

A place of freedom and growth.

I'm currently reading the book of Psalms. Today I read #18, a Psalm of David written after God rescued him from Saul and from his enemies.

As I was reading, I came across something strange in verse 19.

"He (God) brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me."

For some reason (That reason being the nudging of the Holy Spirit) I couldn't get my mind off the first part of that verse. A broad place. 
I continued reading, thinking nothing of it at first. But I had to come back to it, because I couldn't shake it.
A broad place. What is that supposed to even mean?
My dad happened to be close by while I was reading, and so I asked him what he thought about the verse.
He let out this big sigh of contentment when I read the verse to him. As if to say, Oh that's a good one. And I said, what to you understand from this verse?
He said that a broad place to him represented freedom and room to grow.

And from that, the thoughts just started to flow.

A broad place is a place of safety. I picture a large open field somewhere in the country. The sun is shining, the sky is blue. And its quiet. Quiet enough for just you and God. Quiet enough to hear his voice. In a field, there is no restriction. No daily responsibility that keeps you from Him. There is possibility for new things. There's not one direction in which you could move forward, but several.

In the verse before that it says that the LORD is his support. So before God brought David out into a broad place, a place of freedom and growth. God was already supporting him. And from that place of trust, God brought him into a place that requires David to trust him even more to bring something AMAZING into his life.

I can't believe I got all this from one line in a Psalm. I could go on.
All I'm saying is that the idea of God bringing me to a broad place really resonates with my heart.
Especially in a time where the summer is uncertain.
He's just telling me to relax a little bit.

He loves me. I love Him. Isn't it wonderful.

K

Silence

Losing interest quickly is your forte.
I've just barely started falling in when you fall out.
But so it goes.
You'd think I'd be used to it by now.
You'd think it'd get easier.
It doesn't.
Give a girl a chance why don't you?

K

Interesting Day

Wake up 3 minutes before alarm goes off
Watch Top Pyramid while on the tread mill - exercising my body and my mind haha
Nutella for breakfast, yum...
Study for L'apprentissage
Gospel Choir solo
Girls come to pick me up
Adele 21 in the car
Lunch at Makimono with the girls - chicken fried rice, dumplings, spring roles, green tea, sushi, avocado, waaaay too much avocado, vanilla ice cream. YUM
Laughter
Visit to the old high school
Talk with old teachers - tell them I'm going to France. Appreciate TD just as much as I always did.
More Adele 21 in the car
Trip to walmart
Burt's bees, lipstick, nail polish the colour of "gangreen" - really mint sorbet, but w/e
Wedding magazines
More laughter.
Traffic
Arrive at home
Open my textbook only to decide to take the rest of the day off
NUMB3RS
30 Vies - strange French show on T.V. - again exercising my mind
Get the urge to see The Wedding Planner
Frustrating trip to Blockbuster where they don't let me rent a video because I'm not a "partner" on my mother's card.
Return home.
Work on débat for French class. (Even when I decide to take the night off, I always end up doing something school-related)
Wait for mother to get home.
Take her blockbuster card. Go back to blockbuster. They STILL won't let me rent the movie I want to see.
Mother works a little magic on the phone.
Go against the rules and rent The Wedding Planner. Thank you mother :)
Watch it.
Paint my nails the colour of gangreen - or mint sorbet - take your pick
Cry, smile, laugh. Love the movie JUST as much as I did the first million times.
Come upstairs and get ridiculed by my family for the colour of my nails (In a loving way though)
Fur Elise on the piano. Feels good to play the piano.
Time for bed.

Bad Blogger

So, I found out several weeks ago that I was accepted to the exchange program, and will be going to Nice, France next January.

I'm so excited!

Sorry for not telling you all sooner.

Nice or Geneva - Which one shall it be?

As many of you already know, I've spent this last fall semester applying for the international exchange program at Glendon, and hope to be studying abroad in January for the second semester of my third year of University.

Today I had my interview at Glendon, which was completely in French (yes, be proud). They asked me about my experiences in Germany, as well as in Quebec. They asked my why I had chosen Nice, France as my first choice. They asked my why I had chosen only one semester instead of a whole year. And I, quite successfully might I add, answered them in my little québécois accent.
They asked me if I would mind going to Geneva if they couldn't place me at my first choice university, and of course I said no. They're both fabulous cities. I just want to go abroad and learn French.

They have several more interviews to do, but they told me they would contact me in a few weeks about the results, and what university I will be studying at.

AHHHHHH! Excitement level has just risen about a million percent.
So, for your reader enjoyment, I will post two pictures (one of Nice, and one of Geneva) - one of which I will be at, God willing, next January!

 Nice, France

Geneva, Switzerland

Times are a'changing. And it's just taking me a while to get used to it.
----

Looking at this sentence a few days after writing it made me realize something new.
It's not so much that I don't like change. I think it's more the fact that sometimes it feels as though I'm being left behind while those that are close to me do. (Even when they're changing in positive ways)

Maybe I'd rather it that I change right along with them, or that neither of us change.

But that's not really the way life works.
Like I said, it just takes some readjustment, and getting used to.

Just some thoughts.

K

Things I'd like to do with you

Skating on a clear night

Walk the boardwalk down in the beaches on a cool august afternoon

Eat at a ridiculously fancy restaurant

Eat hamburgers at a fast-food diner

Go to a bookstore and peruse the books we would never buy

Rent and watch the movie you feel like watching

Stargaze, counting the number of shooting stars we see

Spend hours talking in an eclectic coffee shop

Exchange Christmas gifts

Go to the zoo

K

Habakkuk 2:3

You seem slow in coming, but I will wait for you.

I know where I want to do my PhD.

Now I just gotta wait 2 and a half years to apply. At least you can say I don't like to procrastinate.

Everlasting search for a bible study

The idea of being part of a bible study group (sometimes called a cell group, sometimes called a discipleship group (DG) has always been an attractive idea to me. I really do like the idea of meeting once a week with a group of young women that I trust and get along with to study the word of God, to encourage one another in our faith, and to share different aspects of our week.

Over the years I've joined different bible study groups, and for several different reasons they've never ended up sticking or working out.

• One time the cell group ended up moving downtown - too far away to get a ride

• Another time the bible study group leader moved out of town and couldn't continue it

• A third time it was an incredibly long commute to get to the meeting (where I ended up spending more time in transit then I did with the girls that I just ended up not going back.)

For some a bible study is a weekly staple. It's a number one priority. They make room for it. They juggle their schedule around, travel far, and will do anything to join one and be part of one.
I've never really been on the same page as those people. Although I feel that it would be beneficial for me to be a part of one, the idea of traveling far, juggling my time, and doing whatever I can to join one ends up being more of a stress more than a blessing.

And isn't that what the meeting is supposed to be? A blessing. Not only to me, but also allowing me to encourage and be a blessing to others in the group as we grow in our faith together?

I'm not against the idea at all. In fact, I'd still like to find one. However, I have 3 criteria:

• Proximity: It's gotta be close to where I'm living. I'm not traveling an hour there and an hour back to meet for 45 min to an hour. 
• Convenience: It's gotta be at the right time. Ideally it would fit into my schedule. So, after class sometime would be great. Coming to school on my day off - not so great. 
• Trust: I'd really like to find a bible study that is led by someone I know well, I trust, and I look up to. Someone who's got similar goals than I do, that can encourage me in the plan that God has for me.

Those are the things I'm looking for. If I can find that, you can probably be sure that I'd sign up.
This may be a bit candid. But I just thought I'd share my point of view. So that you all know: I don't keep saying no because I don't want to. I keep saying no because the only options I've seen so far don't really seem like options to me.

University

Walking from Glendon campus to the bus stop one evening near the end of last semester, a realization hit me. I'm really happy with my program, and with my choice to be at Glendon. I felt a sense of purpose and direction that evening as the sun set, casting its beams of light through the bare trees.

I've been really impressed, as of yet, with the undergrad psychology program offered at Glendon. While toughing it through my introductory stats and experimental psychology courses last semseter (the two manditory courses often dreaded by second year psychology undergrads), I recognized just how useful the information I was learning would be to my future path in the psychological field. I mean, everything has to do with stats and experiments in psych! And they weren't as bad as I expected them to be. In fact, my profs were great, the TA was amazing, and although I got frustrated with boring lectures and a pile of work, I felt that the psych department really knows what they were doing when they made us take these courses

Retrospectively, it's been an interesting journey so far. When I applied to Glendon I envisioned doing a double major in Psychology and Études Françaises. My goal was to get my undergrad psych degree and to follow that up with a masters degree in counseling. I had absolutely no interest in doing a 4th year thesis, and was against the idea of ever getting a doctorate. Over the span of a year and a half, my french major has turned into a minor, and finally gotten written off my degree completely as I changed my degree to a specialized honours in psychology (which doesn't allow me to do a minor on the side).

I really began to consider psychology and the possibility of pursuing it further than just a MA after a young psychologist (with a PhD to boot) came into my Intro to Psychology course and explained the ups and downs of her academic journey. She's now working at a hospital, specializing in eating disorders. And suddenly I realized that maybe I was selling myself short. Maybe, I was also capable of going all the way. Why limit myself to a BA undergrad, and a masters in counseling?

Even though I'm no longer doing a minor in Études Françaises, I'm still taking french courses. I would say that my passion for the language has continued to grow. There's something invigorating about continuing to pursue french even when it won't show up on my University Degree. And Glendon really does provide me with some great opportunities to pursue this passion. I handed in my International Exchange Application this past week and will hopefully be in France next January. The french profs can be a little bit... eccentric at times. But I've learned that It's really not about them. It's about what I put into learning French. I get only as much as I put in. So I take their idiosyncrasies with a grain of salt and a sense of humor and keep plugging away.

I don't know what my academic future holds for me as of yet. I don't know if I'll end up getting my PhD. I don't know how French will figure itself into the grand scheme of things. All I know is that there's a sense of God-given purpose in what I'm doing right now.

I'm glad I chose Glendon. I like its small high-school like buildings, where I can get to know my profs, and recognize the people I see in the hall. The campus continues to sparkle with beauty, and I still find myself gaping at the intricacies of the old Manoir at the back of the property. I love sitting myself at a desk in the library, enjoying quiet of the afternoon. I look out the window onto the rose garden (now covered with snow) and take in the smell of the ancient books that line the shelves around me. I like being able to be a part of events, classes, and clubs at Keele when I want to be. (It's not so bad in moderation). - And I'm as busy as ever. Sometimes it gets to be too much. But at least there's a sense of purpose. And that puts a skip in my stride, even after the hardest days.

K