.four years.

I don't know that I could have asked for spending my Valentines Day weekend with better people. I mean...ideally I would like to spend every weekend with all of my friends, near and far, but that would be highly impractical. But given the practical circumstances of the situation, I had a good weekend. I got to have my second annual Valentine's Day dinner date with a best friend from HS. I spent the rest of the weekend with my family. We were talking about the next time the four of us would be together and we concluded that it would probably be my graduation in May. With a combination of talking about how fast the last 4 years have gone since my HS graduation and spending the evening with a best friend, I have randomly been thinking a lot about how INCREDIBLY different my life is than the way I had "planned" it out, as a senior in HS.

February 14, 2006 seems so long ago. My main focus was all things swimming. I was ridiculously focused on getting the perfect splits and consumed in the whole sport. However, I don't regret all that time spent in the water/at the gym/etc. It was well worth breaking a record, swimming the fastest I ever have, and being able to experience the thrill of the State meet for a final time. When I wasn't thinking about swimming, I spent my free time attending Board of Education meetings and skipping out on English class to work on our beloved student council project. However, probably the most important thing to me at the time, was my "HS sweetheart". Little did I know that just a week after Valentine's Day, he would break my heart. My life changed a LOT after that 2+ year relationship was over. From that breakup, my college plans changed and I felt my world come crashing down.

But what a cool, cool God we serve. I never in a million years could have planned out how awesomely I have grown since then. I've become incredibly independent (maybe too much). I lead a Bible study. I moved to a place where I knew NO ONE last summer. I have been blessed to meet and work with a group of incredible individuals with a whole array of physical disabilities and illnesses. There's no way I even would have even thought about doing any of these things four years ago.

Basically, I guess what I'm saying here is that even when I think I know what's best for me, I'm so wrong. Even when I can't understand why He does what He does, there's no way that I know what's best for me. As much of my future will be determined in the next 2 months (and as incredibly scared as I am about it all), I know that He is strong and He will bring me through all the storms...even when I can't understand what He's doing.