Happy Junior Year!

Apparently, 1 am is the perfect time to write a blog so be kind.

This past week I have been sick with bronchitis, full on running a fever, I even thought I had pneumonia at one point (thankfully I didn’t).  Fun fact, with Bronchitis as long as you run fever you're contagious; so I’ve been on room arrest, or quarantine, this past week.  As I’ve started to be sick, my mind has had a lot of time to wonder, and I realized that this was not much different than how I started my Jr. year of High school. 

Flash Back:
The summer before my jr year I spent a month in Guatemala, I was home for at least a couple of weeks before I started school.  I had been in school a little less than a month when Labor day came.  I had a fun labor day weekend, ate great food, shopped, and spent time with my family. Nothing was out of the ordinary, until Tuesday.  I woke up not feeling well.  The rule in my house growing up was if you were too sick to go to school for two days then you went to the doctor.  So on day 2 I went to the doctor.  They tested me for a couple of things even West Nile (which was running rampant that fall), and they couldn’t find anything wrong with me even though I was very obviously sick.  During the next few months, yes I said months, I spent hours in different doctors offices and multiple trips to the ER trying to find out what was wrong with me.  They gave different things but nothing very conclusive.  Eventually, I did get better, I went back to school and eventually caught up. 
Why do you need to know this or why is this even important, you may ask. Well, you need the background to understand what comes next.  During this time of sickness I think I had one maybe two friends contact me during these months of being sick, I felt very alone.  It felt like nobody cared that I was sick (I’m not counting my mom in this because I worried her greatly during this time). My Junior of high school was a horrible year being sick is just what started that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.

Now remember the info I just gave you and return to the present.
My Junior year of college just started and this past summer I spent a month in India.  I was home about a month before school started when the Friday of Labor day weekend hits and I am sick. (Are you catching the similarities yet?) That’s where those similarities stop.  I know why I’m sick.  I defiantly don’t feel alone.  In fact, I feel very loved.  Because I live on campus, I have a roommate.  She checks on me multiple times during the day to make sure I haven’t died.  Not only has she checked on me so has my other friend who lives down the hall.  They have brought me meals from the café and just talked to me even though I was so out of it I have very little to no memory of what was said. I have had people check on me through text and FB message. 

Four years ago I was sick and felt alone, and satin used that time to wreak havoc in my life, and it has taken years to get over my Junior year of high school.  Junior year still hurts a little and has probably been fresher on my mind as I start another round of a junior year.  However, this year will not be a junior year that makes me cringe, one that I want to block out of my memory.  This year will be full of memories of new friends, love, and happiness.  I’ve been in denial that my Junior year of college is starting because the last one was so bad.  I’m finally ready to accept that I’m a junior in college. 

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the past, present, and the future.  Thank you for walking with me in the good times and the bad times.  Thank you for friends who care.  I pray that this next school year is full of you.  Help me to follow the path you have set for me.   Thank you, lord.
                                                                                                    Your daughter,
                                                                                                                  Noelle