Looking back, moving forward

Well, it's about time I got around to blogging again. These last few weeks have been packed to the gills with all sorts of things, some of which were quite lovely, others less so. But, as it is a brand new year now, I think I'll reflect on the larger picture for a few moments. Here, in brief, is my life:

--I survived my second semester of college and the end of my freshman year. Probably the hardest semester of my schooling thus far, if the truth be told. It was fun though. I got involved with band again, discovered quite definitively that I should never go into physics (I got sick right before every single test), spent far too many nights staying up late talking to Sara, and enjoyed living with my crazy roommates. I made many new friends, absolutely adored having the opportunity to teach Sunday School, and learned the pleasure of watching life's little dramas unfold.
--I spent the most amazing summer of my entire life serving in Nauvoo. It's hard to define exactly how much I learned and how much my life changed this summer. It did change, though, and in ways I never could have imagined. I learned the virtues of growing old but not growing up, that giving Elder Blackinton food will get you out of anything short of murder, that Nauvoo miracles happen every day, and that happiness is like a firefly--easy to catch if you just hold your hand out in its path.
--Fall semester at BYU. This last semester has been great. A new apartment, a new ward, a new major, and a new direction in life have made it exciting. I've met so many great people this semester, in no small part because I sold my soul to the music department. Music people are the best. I learned to look at the world in different ways--through architecture, birds, poetry, and the scriptures. I came to understand better why the people in my life are so important. And I had tons of fun.

Now I'm sitting at home wondering what the future will hold (and trying to type around the massive black ball of fluff named Gordon who decided that my lap was the best place for a cat-nap and is now blocking both the screen and the keyboard). I audition for the School of Music at the end of the month, which will in large measure determine what the rest of the year is like. Hopefully that goes well and I'll be able to say that I am indeed a music major sometime this spring. Beyond that, I don't really know what to expect. My life has a tendency to turn out very differently from how I think it will. What will I be doing in a few months time? Maybe I'll find my way back to Nauvoo. Maybe I'll be facing different kinds of adventures here at home or back in Provo or somewhere completely different that I haven't even considered yet. Who knows? All I really know is that it will be exciting--that there are things to do, friends to meet, music to play, myself to laugh at, and life to be lived to the fullest.

Happy New Year.