Birthday / End of Summer

To start, I would like to thank everybody that made my birthday the incredible day that it was, INCLUDING all 15 people on my two tour groups.  From giving tours to dining at Vapiano to partying all night, it was overall a great birthday, and I couldn't have asked for more.

In any case, I now find myself with just three days before classes start.  WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?!  I suppose I have done a fair amount over the past four months.  I went home to California, showed Alexis just how incredible the Bay is, spent some quality time (maybe a little too much) with my parents, worked a couple jobs, saw extended family in Chicago, found a job in DC, went to Philadelphia and New York twice, and slept in at least nine different locations.

This summer, I learned that while I love my parents to death, living with them is just not the same after having lived on my own for two years.  After I graduate, I would love to live closer to them and have the opportunity to see them more than four or five times a year.  Unfortunately, that's not an option right now, but I in no way regret coming to school on the East Coast.

I also learned (maybe "realized" is the better word here) that DC is my home.  No matter how I feel about it, it's the truth.  I've discussed this fact here multiple times, but it continues to ring true.  My life is here now, and quite frankly, I could not be happier about that.  I have made a pretty incredible life for myself.  I have some of the best friends in the world, I attend an outstanding university that always manages to find ways to piss me off yet teach me to appreciate what I have, and I live in one of the craziest cities in the world (in a good way).  There are few words to describe DC, and its sheer uniqueness is one of my favorite aspects of this dynamic metropolis.

Lastly, I learned that nothing is ever perfect.  However, at some point, we have to realize this fact and do our absolute best to make the most of every opportunity.  The minute we stop "seizing the moment," if you will, we start to lose meaning, and the second we lose meaning, we lose everything.

So friends, as we end our summers, I say this: "seize, seize, seize."  The Hebrew on my page reads (translated): "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?" (Avoth 1:14).  Find your own meaning in these words and see what you discover in life.  Keep looking for that silver lining, and pursue what makes you happy.


Peace, love, and happiness.