Five Years

I was up late finishing a rather lengthy paper (if you must know, I started it just hours before), so when I went to bed, I was still hyped up on caffeine and whatever it is that staring at a computer screen for six straight hours does to you.

I was talking about my internship to Ukraine this summer with someone earlier in the day, so that was on my mind. Also, my jaw hurts a lot when I'm stressed, and I originally hurt it in Ukraine, so memories were just coming back.

Anyway, I was thinking about how it's been four years since I went on a summer trip to Ukraine. So much has changed in my life since I was there, so I was thinking over how those things will affect this summer's experience. And then I thought that to be fair, I should think back to all that has changed since the last time I graduated, since it's been nearly five years.

In five years, I think that I've changed more than I expected. My ideals are different, my day-to-day life is different. The place I live is different. I'm not sure if I expected so much to change. I feel like it's more circumstantial than me as a person, but those things affect who I am, so I guess I really don't know.

I love lists, so how about one of some things that will have changed in the five years since I last crossed a stage in a cap and gown?

- I went to Ukraine (summer 2007)
- I started at Moody online as a Bachelor of Science in Biblical Studies major (applied as a communications major but there was only one major online then) (2007)
- I spent my first year of college living at home, and most of my time working and with girls from the Sunday school class I helped teach (2007-2008)
- I went to Ukraine and China (summer 2008)
- I got accepted to the Spokane campus and moved away from home (summer/fall 2008)
- I went to Ukraine again (january 2009)
- I met Carson (THE most unexpected part of the whole thing) (spring 2009)
- I got engaged to Carson (summer 2009)
- I didn't go to Chicago because I got engaged (august 2009)
- I took a leave of absence from school to get married and to be able to afford school (spring 2010-spring 2011)
- I married Carson (may 2010)
- I worked at a daycare. Still a little scarred. (2010-2011)
- Carson moved away over the summer... and we all survived (summer 2011)
- We became members of the really great church we'd been attending (summer 2011)
- I returned to Moody halfway through my junior year (spring 2011)
- I made it through the majority of two very heavy full-time class loads without dying (2011-2012)
- I am still approved to graduate, but with a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Ministries (may 2012)
- I did not fail any classes (that was a HUGE fear...I was never in a classroom setting until Spokane)

Notable differences: 
I live 2800 miles away from where I did 5 years ago
I stuck with a major
I have a different last name
I possess a Washington Driver's license.
I have better hair, thanks to the weather (and probably thanks to time and looking back at mistakes).
Caffeine now affects me!
I wait until the last minute on papers in a scary way.
I have conversations about laundry, dishes and household items in a way that I used to think was reserved for

Similarities:
I procrastinate. I've just gotten better at it.
I think the square footage of our living space is the same (meaning that my room back home and my current apartment are relatively similar in size, not that my family lives in a 700 square foot place)
I am planning to move.
My last name hasn't changed in Moody's system.
I still hate job interviews.
I am planning a summer trip to Ukraine.