looking to the future

Looking Out - on my DeviantArt
http://bit.ly/nto4mm

School starts soon. Kids hear the mournful bell of back-to-school shopping for all their supplies as well as the new clothes (since they've already outgrown the stuff they had gotten three months ago). Back-to-school feels different now.

For me, back-to-school this year means I'm outfitting an apartment. I'm transferring this year, and since there was no room left in the dorms for a junior, they stuck me into the student apartment complex on campus. So I need all kinds of stuff - kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, cleaning supplies (most of my list of needs is cleaning supplies). We have minimal furniture - bed, desk, chair, rod, toilet, shower, two chairs, loveseat, stove, oven, sink, fridge, dining room set. Nope, no dresser. No bookshelves either. It makes it kinda fun.

It's much more like actually having a place of my own. Well, almost - I do have two roommates. But I get to choose how I decorate my room and how I want to keep house and all kinds of other fun stuff. Yet it's kinda scary. I'm not a kid anymore. I no longer will have my parents to depend on for groceries and help with tough decisions. I'm going to be three states away, living on my own, working fifteen hours and taking eighteen credit hours' worth of classes a week. (It isn't as heavy a load as I took first semester of senior year of high school, so that's a plus.)

Plus I'm going to try swimming again. Yay! I must admit, I've missed the water. You can take the fish out of the water, but you can't take the water out of the fish. Not only is this their inaugural swim team, but they have diving too. I've wanted to learn how to do fancy diving longer than I've wanted to be a competitive swimmer - I just need to convince them to teach me. ;) We'll see how much actual competitive swimming I do. I don't know how my shoulders will handle it.

This is the future I see looming in front of me. While I'm very excited, I'm also very nervous. I guess I have to have both ends of the spectrum. I don't know anyone out there, and I'll be three states away from my family and most of my friends. It's a huge step to go out like this, even if you're just going to a state college. And I'm out of state.

So I keep telling myself chin up! It'll be an adventure! New places, new people, new experiences. Plus it's not like I have no method of keeping in touch with anyone. I have a phone, a computer, a mailbox, paper and pens...I will be all right.

So I just need to keep looking out.

-enna

P.S. The picture puts me in mind of a story - but I don't know what it is yet. I'll let you know when I figure it out!