It goes on.

When I left TCU on Friday, I practically ran to my car. Never in my life had I been so ready for a break. I’ve always been a good student, but this semester, I made a pact with myself at the beginning of the semester to fully dedicate myself to my studies and stop worrying about the little insignificant things that don’t really matter. I’ve done well and I’m proud of my work this semester but never stopping had been taking a toll on me.

Needless to say, I collapsed into my queen-sized bed as soon as I arrived home. I hugged my mom, dad, and dog hello (my brother was still at school when I got home) and literally just collapsed. I knew I had a lot to do over break but kept telling myself “it can wait until Monday” and “I deserve this.” After binge watching almost every episode of Scandal and gorging myself on the delicacies prepared for me by my mother, I was finally beginning to feel rejuvenated. With that, I vowed that I would write at least one blog post while I was at home.

Well, here I am with an hour and a half left at home and I’m finally getting around to posting this post. Originally, I had been inspired by Madi’s blog about the love of her parents and thought that maybe I would feel inclined to write something similar but instead, I was surprised to be inspired by something else that happened over break.

Somehow, at the beginning of the semester, I knew that Lindsey Hayob would make some kind of appearance in at least one of my blog posts. She’s literally the funniest person I’ve ever met so I assumed that it would be a blog about laughter, right?

Wrong!

I had texted Lindsey early on during the break to see how her time in Lafayette was going and it turned into a deep conversation about how things change while we’re away at school. I kept recalling the Robert Frost quote “In three words, I can sum up everything that I have learned about life: it goes on.” What a strange thought. While we’re away at school living our separate lives, life at home goes on. Our friends’ lives at their respective universities and jobs continue even if we’re not there.  We are all growing and we are changing and we are all doing this separately. We are all so exceedingly blessed at school and it’s hard to remember that we are also exceedingly blessed at home. Just because those worlds don’t necessarily connect does not make one experience more worthwhile than another.

Life doesn’t just stop when we aren’t there. Maybe this is something that I should’ve learned during my freshman year when I returned home once a month but I’m just now getting around to having this learning experience. My parents deal with my brother and getting him into college and that happens when I’m not there. My best friend goes to nursing school and enjoys her sorority when I’m not there.

I guess that the point I’m trying to make is that we are blessed in each part of our lives. All of these different experiences add up to make a happy heart and a happy life. They aren’t all great experiences but they all teach us something. And even if we aren’t present for all of them, EVERY experience adds up and contributes something. Enjoy every part of life: the messy parts, the confusing parts, the celebratory parts, and the transitions. They are what make college and being 20 and growing up worth it. And remember: life goes on whether you're paying attention or not, whether you like it or not, so you might as well make the best of it.