Thank you for your patience this year--I sincerely intended on providing more consistent updates this past semester and yet here we are and in one week my senior spring will begin! The ride, as always, provided ups and downs, twists and turns, sunshine and storms. I survived finals and am so thankful for the prayers and encouragement of friends and family yet again helping me to keep my eye on the big picture. My classes offered quite the variety with American Presidency, Chinese philosophy, Inequality in the Workplace, and Sociology of organizations. In the end, I learned the most material in American Presidency, wrestled intellectually and spiritually with Chinese philo, felt frustrated by Inequality (who isn't??), and benefited from the organizations class.
After my last exam and one more practice, I boarded a plane at 6am on Thursday (Dec 20) morning excited to head home and go straight to West Central for a visit. Unfortunately plans do not always work as one would like, and a blizzard, stranded car, and 36 hours later I finally drove into my own driveway. My travels could have been much much worse, so I am very thankful for the blessing of making it home, seeing quite a few friends and family, and the driving protection for my parents (my mom coming to pick me up at the airport and my dad driving the school bus that afternoon!). A snowball fight or two later and my parents and I headed north to visit family in Minnesota. As always it was lovely to visit with family, play games, and relax. The morning after Christmas I boarded a plane with one of our Minnesota freshmen and we flew out to San Diego for our tournament.
One of my fellow seniors, Victoria, is from San Diego so this was her home tournament. It was so fun to visit her grandparents' home overlooking the Pacific and sing songs, goof off, and enjoy a delicious dinner out on their patio. We also had the opportunity to enjoy the San Deigo Zoo--my favorite animals were the polar bear and the giraffes. It was amazing how close you could get to the animals! We unfortunately lost both games (against Oklahoma State and Southern Methodist University). We flew back to snow-covered, but beautiful, Boston in time for New Year's Eve celebrations. The next day at practice we discovered I managed to get a concussion against SMU and I ended up missing our wins against UMass and U of Rhode Island. Thank God the symptoms went away and I have fully recovered since. We won our first Ivy game against Dartmouth to move us to 10-5 (we dropped the game against BU in overtime...heartbreaker). This Saturday we will play Dartmouth at their place, and after that it is full out Ivy tournament time--every weekend we play Friday and Saturday night. We have thirteen regular season games left--that is so hard to believe. We will make the best of it, and in a month and a half from now I plan on giving the play by play on how we won the Ivy League Title and are headed to the NCAA tournament!!!
J-term is always a rejuvenating time of the year--no classes, just hanging out with the team on campus and enjoying Boston. Practice, eat, sleep, watch movies, eat, sleep, repeat basically sums it up. Some of my teammates are on the job search, others are researching internship opportunities or study abroad options. Others are catching up on much needed sleep or reading some fun novels. January, more than anything, provides a nice break from school that allows us to get back to the basics in basketball without feeling overwhelmed. It also is a great time for players to take care of their bodies and alleviate pain or stress on nagging injuries. With four days left before we really kick into Ivy gear, the team is feeling good and ready to go.
My to do list for the next few days is beside me, but really with the realization that senior spring begins Monday my main priority is simply enjoying my teammates and the moments I have here in this place with them. God has blessed our team with phenomenal individuals and I am so thankful for them. These next two months are going to be incredible, I have no doubt of that.
Here's to the days, weeks, and months ahead! Thank you for embarking on this journey with me three and a half years ago! Take care, God bless, and soak in the moments!
O&O,
M
No comments:
Post a Comment