Has it really been a year?

I honestly can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that I’m done with school. A year ago, I was preparing to move to Indy, now I’m in search of the imperfectly-perfect job.

While all of my undergrad friends searched and stressed for jobs, I put that off for a year. They were wondering where they would be working and I got to walk around saying I’d been accepted into a grad program. And now it’s even scarier than it was the first time I approached that phase of my life. But I have something that those friends don’t have: a very, very expensive piece of paper that says “Master of Sports Journalism” on it.

I’m a Master of a craft; it’s mind-blowing and heart-stopping.

I’ve learned so much about myself that I wish I had catalogued this journey better in this blog because that’s what it should be for. I should have documented every moment of change and inspiration because, by golly, I’m definitely not the same person I was when I moved to Indy.

I didn’t know what being a real member of the press was like at a professional sporting event. I had to remember to pay my rent and buy my own groceries; I had to watch my money. I didn’t know how taxing graduate classes were. I didn’t know that I could write some of the best papers of my education (let me write about baseball all the time, please). I didn’t know friends outside of the ones I made at Spring Arbor. I didn’t know what life was like outside of the SAU bubble and I didn’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much as I have.

My how things have changed.

This was the most terrifying and amazing year of my life.

My comfort zone has diminished. That’s not to say I had much of one before because: 1) I traveled to France as a foreign exchange student when I was 9 years old, 2) I was blessed to witness what life was like in a third world country (Zambia), not once, but twice and 3) I bungee jumped at Victoria Falls while I was there (and a girl’s bungee cord broke at that same place – don’t worry, she’s okay! – several years after I completed said jumping).

It’s been a year of adventure. And the next one begins after I finally get a job and find myself settled in a city, covering a sport that I love.

Nothing is ever easy. This year definitely wasn’t.

A really, really good friend of mine and I always said, “We just have to survive this year.” And survive we did – in some ways we flourished. I found my comfort in the press box of Victory Field with the guys (yep, I’m the only girl in the press box!) that cover the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. She’s on her way to Florida to intern with ESPN Wide World of Sports working in TV production. Triche and Megan at Pacer's GameI’m honestly so incredibly proud of her and all that we’ve accomplished this year and the friendship we’ve shared. There were days we weren’t so sure we’d make it, but like always we figured it out through late night text message rants and lots of coffee and had some fun along the way. She may be leaving me, but I know that we’re not saying “goodbye” just “see you later” because I know that I will visit her wherever she ends up just as she would for me.

Beyond the classroom, this year has taught me that I’m on the right path, pursuing the right things and doing the right things for the right reasons. I have faith that this is the road that I am supposed to be on.

Finding a quotation of some kind to represent how I feel right now about this year has been difficult because there are SO many emotions – to the point where I couldn’t even name them all – that I’ve been feeling since classes ended. But these words from Ellen DeGeneres (Who knew she could be serious sometimes? She’s pretty amazing though.) say something about what this year has meant for me:

Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come.

There’s still much to be done on this journey and I’m going to enjoy all the craziness.

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