welcome to waco.

It’s been a while since I last blogged—surprise. But good news: I’ve discovered a new desire, a need really, for this type of processing. Life in Waco is good, but I find myself desperately wanting to be around someone that knows me. A few people here know me pretty well—friends from home, Kanakuk, etc.—but nobody here REALLY knows me. Maybe I should say that nobody here really knows me YET. We’ll see. All of that to say, I guess I’m doing this out of a desire to be known. Call me shallow, or maybe just call me human.

This is such a bizarre stage of life. I almost feel like a college freshman all over again, meeting new people and trying to make friends. It’s been a few years since I’ve had this feeling of being unknown. A group of us watched a movie together last night, and at one point I looked around the room and realized nobody there knew about my dad. Weird. It’s not really something to bring up in casual conversation, but at the same time, it’s a huge part of who I am.

Being here has been pretty tough in that area. I guess I’m naïve, but I wasn’t really expecting it to be as tough as it has been. I grew up coming to Baylor with my family, so this place is full of random childhood memories. The big thing is that I just can’t help but think about how giddy Dad would be about finally having a kid at Baylor. But perhaps the real issue is that this is the first big life transition I’ve had to go through without him. I want to call him after my classes and tell him what I’m learning and how incredible my professors are. He would be so proud of me. Maybe that sounds vain, but I miss hearing that and really knowing that.

So I don’t know where that leaves me, but in the words of Jordin Sparks: “one step at a time.”