The future hangs over our heads...

...And it moves with each current event

Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain

Just stay in when it's lookin' this way.

-"Landlocked Blues"-Bright Eyes (featuring Emmylou Harris)

I went to a good friend's grad party this weekend. It was a great time; a bit awkward at first, as many parties are, but some intense ping pong started in the basement, more people arrived, and conversations started. We enjoyed some dinner off the grill, fruit, and cake. Though we were going to all head out at 8:00, the weather was terrible and some of us stayed and enjoyed the company of a smaller crowd. After my host's eight-year-old brother beat me in chess (I'm not as good as I used to be, and he takes lessons!), the rest of us headed home. Overall, a fantastic evening.

However, grad parties always get me thinking, and this comes more with each year. I watch all of the seniors discuss where they're going to college: Harvard, Penn, Madison, Lawrence, Carthage, UWM and more. As they discuss where they'll be heading off to in the fall, I realize I'll be filling out applications in the fall, and getting ready to move away for the first time. The concept of packing up and leaving people/possessions behind isn't new to a lot of people. However, I've lived in the same exact place all my life; I've never moved away from Waukesha, I've always lived in the same house, and my bed has been in the same corner of my room for all 16 years of my life. I'm excited for college, but also nervous. What if there's nowhere to hang out in my new city? What if everyone there turns out to be stuck up? What if my classes are impossibly hard? What if the weather's weird there? What if my new friends aren't as great as my current ones? What if I hate my major? I understand I'll have time to check out colleges (and I already have a pretty good idea of where I want to go), but that doesn't make my worries go away. Change is good, but that doesn't mean it isn't a challenge sometimes.

I'm having trouble writing this because I don't want to come off as overly attached to my family and hometown. It's just something I think about. I tend to spend a good chunk of time "people watching" at parties. A lot of times, the way people interact is more fascinating than the actual conversation. (More on observations later. I do a lot of this, and it deserves its own post.)

(Here's where I was going to do outfit pictures (yay vanity!), but I completely forgot to take them. That's probably my first goal: remember to take outfit pictures, then use said pictures to improve style. I was attempting to describe my outfit, but it wasn't going too well and I decided to skip it. It was getting a bit long for a footnote. Anyway...I guess I'm ending this post? Better luck next time, self.)

Shine on,

Renée