October 22, 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
It's always amazing to me to see how much life can change in such a short time. At this moment, I am sitting on a wide stretch of lawn, in a city I don't really know. There are thousands of people around me, and I know about a hundred of them. The weather is gorgeous, sunny and temperatures never going below 70. My parents and most of my friends are thirteen hundred miles away, in Colorado, where I hear it is snowing, and at the thought of snow I just have to laugh. I am in college and it is wonderful.
In January I became extremely sick with kidney and electrolyte problems. I was in the hospital for about two weeks and then I was in and out of the hospital until April. Because of the electrolyte problems or from something else all together, I was having nerve pain and trouble walking and using my hands. With all of this going on I went to school twice during the last semester, once to just say "hi", and another to look for a prom date. I ended up going to prom and having a wonderful time with all my friends. In May, I graduated from high school with presidential academic excellence. It was miraculous to graduate, and it was especially sweet to graduate with my class and to walk during the ceremony. With so much happening during the past year, I was looking forward to the summer and relaxing. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, and I ended up using my summer getting ready to go to college.
In August, I moved to Nashville, TN to start my freshman year at Vanderbilt University. Nothing really can prepare you to go to college, no book or piece of advice. Even though I only moved across the country, there are quite a few differences between Colorado and Tennessee. I live in a world where southern belles and chivalry are daily occurrences. It's said that when a young woman goes to Vanderbilt doors open, both literally and figuratively. I am making lots of friends and am enjoying looking at the world through the Vanderbubble, the name for the campus as a whole. Life in college is never dull. Whether during the week it's studying for exams or just going to classes, to the weekends that truly start on Thursday for a surprisingly large group of people. I am finding that there is much to learn about life from college, like what to do and what not to do. Do use time management. Don't be someone you're not. From the Munchie Marts, our own little convenience store located in the basement of the dorm, to the classrooms, I am experiencing and learning what life is like beyond the world of high school and adolescence. So far it has not been without it's ups and downs, but I know that when things gets truly hard my parents are a phone call away, my brother is willing to help, and every friend I have is always willing to give me encouragement.
I have experienced things in life that are rarely experienced so young, and I have grown up with an unusual view on the way life is lived. It's a comfort to know that life is not always so complicated, but that although things are simple they hold so much more meaning. I call my Mom and Dad daily and I always tell them something I have learned about life in general or life at Vanderbilt. They are always things that make my parents and I laugh, either through the way I have learned them or that they are so inconsequential. Perhaps I'll write a book on all that I learned in my new life in college. I look back now at the seven years that have past, and so little and so much time has gone by. The people that have come into my life have taught me so much, and the experiences that life dealt me have given me so many things, from a chance to learn things about life and myself to giving me a wonderful perspective on life.
In the end life is full of the unexpected, both good and bad. To me living life well no matter who you are is to take the unexpected in stride. On October 22, have fun. Live a little or a lot. Do something unexpected. Just live and celebrate your life. Happy 7th Glad to Be Alive Day, my friends and family! Take care, and have a wonderful year.
With Love,
Emily
For the original version of this letter, click here. Below are pictures of the family and I on the move to Vandy.
 |
| Leaving CO, Scott looks excited. |
 |
| All the...boxes. |
 |
| Dorm room Complete! Imagine an "L"; this is the long part of it. |
 |
| The other part of the "L." |
No comments:
Post a Comment