It's been a while... but it's been good.

Almost one month since I last posted. Bad. Very bad.  The good news?  My first semester of grad school is coming to a close, and in the month I have been missing in action I have found more of my niche in school.  I picked an emphasis - organizational and community change - went on a graduate research trip to Miami, made new friends, joined new organizations, finished a lot of projects AND received "As" on all of them.  Oh yeah, and you know that ONE thing I was most stressed about a month ago- that mandatory internship I have to complete to graduate, the one for which I was scared I was dreaming too big by sending my resume to top employers around the Nation hoping someone would take a look?  Well...... I GOT ONE!  And it's not just any internship.  I'm moving to MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE for the whole summer to work for one of the best hospitals in the world, not to mention one of the top-rated employers in the country.  I. AM. SO. LUCKY!  I have so much I want to say about everything I have done in the last month, but I think the most important thing I have realized is (warning: this is going to sound unbelievably corny) that staying positive and believing in yourself actually works.  In the last six months I have significantly changed the way I view my life.  Yesterday I took a super lazy "personal day", and as I was on my couch my mind drifted back to where I was, in say, November, and I don't even know that person anymore.  It was like one day I finally realized that my own happiness isn't determined by anything other than how much I am willing to grab its reins and steer it in the right direction.  Sometimes I'm a control freak and it surprises me how long it took me to realize I have control over how I feel, and I refuse to feel anything other than great.  Right now I'm on the porch, the sun is shining, Olive the cat is pretending to be a stealth predator, I'm reading a good book, and next month I get to cross off a dream I've had since I was 15 on my first visit, I'm moving to Tennessee.  Life is good.