Wednesday, February 26, 2014

What does she even do all day?

Oh to be 27 and completely unmarried.

Sometimes, I read all your blogs and realize that I never really write about my daily life/what I do here/what I hope for my future . . . etc.  And then I pretend that all of you are wondering the answers to all of those questions.  Oh beloved blog world of one way communication.  I can imagine all of you reading and make up whatever reaction I want to.

My daily life is always different.  My goals of late have been to establish a routine to accomplish the important things.  This has been great.  Monday: Volleyball.  Tuesday: Grocery shop and cook meals for the freezer.  Wednesday: Recuperate from the really hard client I see on Wednesday, usually by eating and running.  Thursday: Run and then whatever the heck I want (has included nearly anything you can imagine--sewing, biking, reading, painting, singing, ukulele-ing, hanging out, hot tubbing, teaching english to refugees, meetings about church stuff, 7:00 naps that I regret, etc). Friday: Repeat Thursday. Saturday: Get whatever I didn't do on Thursday and Friday done.

The rest of the time is spent trying to figure out the big questions.  Where am I going?  Why am I here? Who am I?

See, when you are single, you are 100% alone in figuring out what your life is going to hold for you.  At all times.  When you think about your future, you have to make really hard decisions completely by yourself.  The amazing thing is, that even with the support of amazing bishops, friends, family, peers who have already figured it out, and even the spiritual inklings and guidance, you still have to choose and you still have to trust yourself.  You also start to see life in a less transient way.  As a college student, everything is moving all the time.  But some of my friends here are in their lifelong careers.  Weird.  They start to buy houses and take real vacations.  It gets a girl thinking.  You may remember that I have never really had a great career path in mind.  It has always been an abstract concept, never a solidified idea.  I had hoped to go to grad school when I graduated from BYU-Idaho, but I knew I needed time.  So, I worked for the old lady, worked for the sex therapist, did the Italy thing, did the "come home from Italy, lost but found" thing, took care of my grandpa, discovered that grieving is a life long experience, worked at the day care (so glad that one is over), Temple Square (miss this one), and now I work with the most incredible humans I have met (almost all under the age of 5).  Somewhere in all of this, I decided Social Work was the path forward.  My last post showed you a smidgeon of how hopeful, yet also anxious I felt about finding out if I got into the program here at the University of Utah for a Master's in Social Work.  Last friday, I got the email that held the fateful news.

Dear Megan,

Congratulations!  . . .

I GOT IN!!!! I START IN THE FALL!!  Can anyone understand how amazing it feels to know that I will be here for another 2 years at least?  How grateful I am that I get more time with my friends?  That I have a career path in mind that I think is true to me?  That I was granted the desires of my heart?  I know Trevor, I have already written a lot, but I feel like there aren't enough words in the world to explain all that I have learned in my 27 years of being Megan Whitlock.  I am so grateful for all of you.  I look back at 113 and I am not always proud of how I chose to treat all of you, but I am always grateful for how you all chose to treat me.  I am so grateful for your hopes for me and helping me realize my potential.  I owe so much to you and to all of my incredible friends here in SLC.  So, I guess I wasn't ever 100% alone . . .

Love,
Megan

P.S. Being single also means no one takes glamorous photos of you and your cute . . . anything.  Sorry.  I am pretty photo-less.

P.S.S.  My friends and I also are really smart.  Our smartest venture is the Lunch Bunch.  There are 10 of us in a group.  5 people make 10 lunches each one week.  The other 5 make 10 lunches the next week.  You cook 1 lunch every 2 weeks, divide it between 10 people and you have earned lunches for the next 2 weeks.  I tell you this so you wish you had 10 friends and so you realize that we are the smartest and so you realize we are practically living in Zion.  We are all really modest here.

P.S.S.S. I lied.  Here is a photo.  But I think my smile is the WORST.  And it makes me laugh.