Dear Family and Friends,

It is strange that I write to you now as a college graduate. The fact that four years of education are over has not yet really hit. This realization might be postponed by the reality that I have so much TFA homework currently. I am alternating between reading textbooks titled Teaching as Leadership; Diversity, Community, and Achievement; Instructional Planning and Delivery; Classroom Management and Delivery; and Elementary Literacy. Meanwhile, I am also attempting to study for the Praxis, which I am not horribly worried about but at the same time am stressed nonetheless over the fact that I only get one chance to pass. I simply *must* pass the first time around.

Thus graduation has not meant the end of homework, and I am reminded of the fact that I truly believe my nose best belongs stuck between the pages of a good book. I am not even upset about having homework. In truth, I find all this new work to be fascinating, as it is outside of the field I studied for the last four years. I cannot help but think how useful it would have been to have read some of this before teaching English in Thailand last year. Nonetheless I am grateful to be learning it now. Moreover, I am happy to simply continue learning and studying, though I wish I had a little more control over the timing and could walk outside more to enjoy the summer sunshine. Hopefully that will come in time. If not, however, losing one summer is a small sacrifice to pay in the goal of becoming the absolute best teacher I can be.

Overall, I am avoiding too much reflection. I do not want to reflect too deeply on all that I have left and said goodbye to, because I will miss it so dearly. If I stop now, I might be frozen and unable to keep moving forward. Similarly, I do not want to reflect too long on moving to a completely new location and having an entire class beholden to me. The responsibility and weightiness of that reality would equally freeze me. Instead, I am attempting to focus merely on today's work and what I need to do before I go to the beach with my family. While at the beach, I will have to accept the reality that I will be leaving for Louisiana just two days after I arrive back in North Carolina. It will all happen very quickly, but for now I am choosing to live in the present.

To the rest of Messiah College's Class of 2009: CONGRATULATIONS! We did it! :)

To those I have left at Messiah or in the Harrisburg area: I will miss you.