All Good Things...

In nine days, I will take my last final and pack away the last of my belongings for either the long road home or the long summer in storage. Montreat is a second home to me now, or perhaps my primary home, and I hate to leave it. I will miss the people and the mountains. They are Montreat. They are home.

I have learned a lot this semester, about myself, about friendship, about human nature, about being in a strong community. There's no place like Montreat. I'm just glad I'm not graduating yet!

Another thing I'm grateful for is this age of cameras. I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures on my own computer and hundreds more I can access via Facebook. As I look back through my photos, a story comes out. A bit choppy, but a story all the same.

The first day of NSO. Here I am with (most of) my siblings. Eddie's goodness-knows-where.






Ah, there he is. This was my first time in my dorm room. It looked strange and new to me. Now it's my bedroom, office, kitchen, bathroom, library, and attic all rolled into one!





Me and some friends at the NSO coffeehouse. If I look depressed, it's because I was-- my family had just left, and I wouldn't see them for seven weeks.






Me, Marta, and Sarah. We're the Three New England Musketeers!








Look at me, all dressed up for formal!













At the end of Christmas break, five of my friends came up to New Hampshire and we spent a week bonding and goofing off. Here's me and my friend/future roommate Imari asleep one morning. I'm curled up in the corner, and little Imari-- she's only 5-2, she doesn't usually take up much space-- has most of the bed.



Me and Imari again, playing in the snow one day in January when school was canceled.








Here's me and a bunch of friends on our way up the Lookout trail. Yes, we're wearing short sleeves; it's about 70 degrees, but there was still snow on the mountain.





Me and my roommate, Laura.









Me, Marta, and her little cousins over Easter break. We stayed with their family for the weekend and went on hikes and had streamside picnics. It was a ton of fun.






Aha! Here's the awesome fort we Lost Boys had for Pan Day. We totally one-upped the pirates-- all they had was a propped-up strip of plywood painted to look shippy.






And here we are, at today. I have no pictures for what tomorrow holds; the future is a mystery. What happens over the next several days and months is in God's hands, and he'll take care of it. In the meantime, my adventure is at an end, and I prepare to bid Montreat and my dear friends a tearful and heartfelt adieu. But only until August. Then another adventure begins!