Here I am, three months having passed since my last post, in total disbelief of the fact that I’ve neglected this page for so long. When I started this blog, I commented that I hoped I would keep up regularly with this blog and not let it fall by the way side. Let’s call this a fresh start to Musings of an Irish-American, as everything seems to be changing in my life.
Spring semester at DePauw ended more with a whimper than a bang. Before I knew it finals week had come and gone and, all of a sudden, I was moving out the Fiji house and saying goodbye to all of my senior friends who were starting real life. In this period of time, I was mainly occupied with copious amounts of work to be completed before the end of the year, including my student teaching application for the Spring 2011 semester. However, my time was also occupied by a new person in my life, who, since my last post, has “officially” become my girlfriend. Labels aside, if anyone had told me this time last year that I would be with this amazing individual, I probably would have laughed heartily in your face and referred you to the nearest mental facility. I’m excited to see where things go in this relationship, and I’m sure there will be plenty to write about here (if I’m not too busy spending time with her :-))
Since coming home for summer, I’ve been working at George’s Ice Cream and Sweets in the Andersonville neighborhood, scooping ice cream on a semi-regular basis for what money I can possibly save this summer. Things have gone quite well there, working with new people and interacting with the many dessert-hungry customers that come in through the door.
But back to changes: it seems like everything’s been changing around me without my permission (funny how that works, isn’t it?) During the course of Spring semester, we were informed that our amazing choral director, Gabriel Crouch (of former King’s Singer and Louisiana trip fame) would be leaving DePauw to become the director of choirs at Princeton University. This made the rest of the second semester somewhat depressing, as we realized over the course of the semester that each rehearsal and performance leading to the end of the semester would be our last with him. As difficult as it was to say goodbye to him, I wish him all of the best in his pursuits and success in his new job.
I then found out about a month before the end of the semester that the pastor at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greencastle was being relocated to a parish in Indianapolis. He’s been the pastor (and the only priest) at St. Paul’s during my time at DePauw, so having to say goodbye to someone who I have looked toward for spiritual guidance and support for the past three years was also not easy.
Finally, all of my senior friends had to go up and graduate on me, leaving me as a rising senior at DePauw. I knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It also made me very aware of how little time I have myself left at DePauw, and what I need to do to start planning for the future. As inconvenient as it may seem, I guess we all have to live up to the fact that time moves on without our consent, which means you can either live up to it and start living your life, or you can try to fight it and be miserable. I think I better start living.
Happy summer; hopefully I’ll be back soon.
-MJH