A Place Called “Limbo”

Well. I’m back at school. It’s weird to think that I’ll be only sleeping in my room here at the house for 7 more nights. Ever. For the rest of time.

 

I hate to admit this, but I’m not sad about it. Holy cow, did I just say that out loud? Okay, so that’s a bit harsh. Maybe it’s better to say that I’m just ready.

 

I joined my sorority, like,  100 years ago. Okay, so it was only three. But it feels like decades ago. I moved into the house the next semester and served on the executive board not once, but for two years in a row. We just had our last meeting as an executive board tonight and handed over our paperwork and positions to the newly elected officers. While I have come to love and respect all of the women I have shared the experience with, I feel like that phase is over and it’s time to put my attention and energy some where else. Of course, that’s where the dilemma sets in. Where the heck do I put it?!?

 

Well, Paris is a start. I don’t think it’s quite set in yet. Not really. I started to feel it earlier today…that bittersweet feeling of knowing that one little piece of my life is ending, but that it’s opening up into something much bigger than I ever thought possible. Not so much a sadness, just some a strangeness. Like I’m taking this big leap, and making this huge change, and I’m sort of caught up in the middle of it. Know what I mean?

 

Before I get all deep and philosophical on you, let’s rewind to earlier today. After a minor meltdown due to the aforementioned realization that big changes are on the horizon, I hopped in the car and drove up to Gainesville for my last full week of school. The drive took an extra hour today thanks to bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate, but I didn’t mind.

 

Like my little dashboard decoration? (No, not the dust, the card!) Nothing like a little inspiration every time you hop in the car. (Note to self: Buy a duster…)

 

I finally made it back to Gainesville, went to my meeting, then went out to dinner with 6 of the other ladies who were on the executive board with me over the last year to celebrate our last year of hard work.

 

We went to a really nice restaurant called 101 Downtown and devoured everything on the menu. We started with appetizers,

 

 

(spinach and artichoke dip, hummus, lobster macaroni and chicken quesadillas) and then went for the good stuff. I ordered the seared tuna with some type of wasabi cream some-somethin’ and a side of the chef’s vegetables. Delicious.

Pardon the dim pictures…they had the ambience going with sexy lighting and candles

 

101 has four desserts to choose from. We ordered ALL of them.  No big deal.

 

We were most hesitant about the Apple-Walnut Fried Wontons, but they ended up being our favorite.

If only the picture did it justice!

 

We must have been sitting at dinner for a good three hours, just enjoying the setting, the delicious food, and the loving company. I enjoyed every second of just talking about the past year, and realizing how much we have accomplished in the last 12 months. I told them a bit of what I had been feeling earlier today, and felt comforted to know that my friends are in the same boat. And that boat is in limbo between what was and what is going to be…a very scary place to be!

 

Twenty-one is such a funny age. It’s like being an adult with training wheels. We sorta, kinda know what it’s like to be an adult, but let’s be honest…we’re still just kids. We laughed at the many times over the past year that we got wrapped up in “big decisions,” many of which we can’t even remember now, and appreciated all of the growing up we did in times that tested our values and ideas.

 

Each of us were amazed, yet unsure of how we got where we are right now; almost done with college, moving on to internships and graduate programs, and moving to foreign countries, but we found comfort in knowing that despite that trials and the many lessons learned the hard way, we magically wound up right where we are, safe and surrounded by community. We may be on a boat in the middle of nowhere, a place called “limbo” (), but we aren’t ever alone there. There’s always someone paddling along with us, helping us get to where we are going, even when we don’t know where that is.

 

In the spirit of growth, and discovering who we are, I’ll leave you with a link to one of my very favorite articles. Enjoy!

 

“We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.”

Tagged as: college life, dining out, personal growth