don't blink..

It seems like just yesterday that I was doing this very same thing. Trying to fit all of my clothes, accessories and that extra pair of heels into my already stuffed suitcase, praying that it won't go over 50 lbs like every girl prays that somehow that chocolate we ate won't go straight to our hips.

This summer has been so chock full of excitement, adventure and stress that I'm actually not so surprised that it blew by so quickly. But then again, I guess the tortoise and the hare phenomenon hasn't ever really applied to me.

On the eve of my departure, as I sit and look around the room that I've grown up in - things start to get sentimental. That door frame that I've run into countless times, the bathroom that my sister and I have made into our pride and joy of interior design, the window where I would sit and wait for my boyfriend's arrival, the desk where I mastered my BC Calculus course and the closet that somehow always opens up a little more space for that new dress that I just had to have. Even though I'm excited for what is to come, I can't help but wonder about what I'm leaving behind.

I truly feel as if I have become a different person over the past year of my life. For anyone who knew me well before, you would most likely say the same. I look at things in a different way, I celebrate smaller victories (I actually cried with joy last semester when I had time to get a haircut) and I'm a whirlwind of activity, on any given day who knows what I'm up to or where I am headed.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to the windy city. A city so big, powerful and bustling that it could blow any polished businessman off his feet the first day. Should I be worried? A barely twenty-one year old, on that awkward fence of being in the real world and clinging to youthful naivety? Probably. But honestly, even with my dumb luck, what's the worst that could happen... traumatic run-in with a hobo? exasperating attempt to catch the metro? cantankerous case of the measles? kerfuffle (yes dears, that is a real word) with the owner of the Chicago Cubs?

When you get right down to it, I'm pretty good at getting myself into predicaments. But if God leads you to it, he will lead you through it. So I say, brace yourself Chicago. Lauren is coming to town.