Last fall I began college at Whitworth University. I was excited about the new opportunities and possibilities that awaited me, and the novelty of living in a big city was inviting. This year I'm heading back with a slightly different attitude. Don't get me wrong, I love my school and the people there, but this summer showed me the discrepancies between my life at school and my life at home.
At home I work in agriculture, my days are long, sometimes things go wrong and at the end of the day there is a good sort of exhaustion; the kind where you know that you've accomplished something. Life is real and tangible, whereas the "Pinecone Curtain" shelters Whitworth. It's a sort of buffer between the real world and the bubble in which we live and learn. The contrast between the two realities can be quite startling.
This summer I came to recognize that my heart is with my roots, firmly planted in the country. From a young age I loved animals, playing in the dirt and being outdoors. It wasn't until this summer that I realized how much a part of me those things are. At school I had immersed myself fully in the Whitworth culture, enjoying every minute, but at home I saw who I had been all of my life coming back in force. My love of hard work and challenges makes working in agriculture an exhilarating experience, I left each day feeling enthusiastic about what I had accomplished and what was coming up. It was a sort of feeling alive that I hadn't really felt during the school year.
At home my social life revolved around eating food or spending time outdoors with animals. These times were filled with the peaceful comfort of good company and conversation about past experiences, opinions, or small town news. When I think about the memories I'll treasure in years to come, I think it will be those conversations, the ones where it didn't matter what we were doing, just that we were with good people. I've come to a greater understanding of the type of people who I truly enjoy their company, allowing myself to invest more deeply with those people.
Now as I return to school, it will be a process to figure out how to balance participating in the things that make college so unique and wonderful with maintaining the person I am at home. This summer has allowed me to reflect on the things that make me who I am, and to embrace the passions that I have. It has truly been a blessing to reaffirm these ties and I hope to carry the things I've learned over into this next year. Each season brings with it new lessons, and this summer has been full of them.