Life plans!

Ha. Just kidding. (Sorry, parents.) But I do officially have a plan for the fall!

In case you haven't heard (though if you're here you probably have), I've been accepted to Columbia Theological Seminary's Master of Divinity program! I'm excited and nervous and relieved and intimidated and probably a million other things all at the same time.

Now, bear with me, because I'm about to reference my own Facebook status...

First, disclaimer: I grew up in a Presbyterian church, worked at a Presbyterian camp, and have been part of a Presbyterian volunteer program for somethin' like 19 months now. So obviously, there's some significant overlap amongst the people I know. But as I watched the reactions to the obligatory I'm-going-to-Columbia status that I posted on Facebook last week, I realized just how many different groups of people have supported me along the way. I know, I know, a "like" on Facebook does not automatically equate to years of friendship and support. But represented in the comments and likes of this particular status are childhood and high school friends, college friends, sorority sisters, fellow camp counselors, family, friends from Nashville, friends from Montreat, and of course assorted YAVs and YAVA. Some fit in to more than one category. Some I talk (or type) to frequently, and some I haven't had an actual conversation with in years. But all of these people, all of you, are a part of the places and events that have gotten me here.

There is something that has stuck with me consistently over the past several years, through all of the changing places and faces. It is the notion that this journey is not at all one to be traveled alone. I don't nessecarily mean my personal path to seminary, but the journey. You know, the cheesy figurative path everyone walks in life, regardless of the particular direction in which they travel. The one that everybody's on, whether they know it or not.

Technically, I made the independent decision to fill out forms and mail them to the school, but there's not even a chance I would have done that if not for the many groups of people I've known along the way. And the way it seems, next year will begin a combining of many of those groups. I'm very much looking forward to being closer to family and friends (and mountains), all while experiencing a completely new phase of my life.

I'm also convinced that sometimes journeys are meant to be taken just a step at a time. Some of those steps are baby ones and some are more like giant leaps. But I mentioned in my last post how important I think it is to really be present where you are, and I don't think that's possible if you're putting all of your attention on what will be happening ten or twenty or thirty years from now. I know thinking about the future is important too. But if that's all we ever did, we'd miss what's right in front of us!

So, with all my heart, thank you (yes, you) for being a part of these little steps of mine. In the words of Shakespeare (and our community's thank you cards): "I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks."

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love,
Allison.