“To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.” - Shakespeare

I am on the brink of finishing my first full year of school. As I look back over the past ten months, I can hardly imagine what it was like to inhabit the world in which I previously lived and worked. It seems like another life, someone else's life. I remember writing last summer about how different it was to get up, throw on some jeans, and bike up to campus. Now, that's my life. That's my reality. And I love it. Had I known how happy school would make me, maybe I would have done it sooner. But no, there was a lot of learning that had to happen before I was actually ready to be in school.

I head out to run early on Sunday morning, letting the previous week filter through my mind and making room for the coming week to seep in. In preparation for an upcoming trail run, I set out towards the hills and it is less than a mile before I'm tackling one. It's early but it's already muggy and humid; as I take on the incline, I am sweating profusely. Soon enough I am rewarded with a sweet decline, a gentle reprieve. I coast a little bit and let gravity carry me, feeling the cooling breeze.

So many times this year have felt like the incline - demanding, exhausting, and challenging me to put in more than I think I have. How many times did the list of things to read and write and do seem endless? How many times did I let my worries get the better of me? How many times did I simply feel beaten down by the hill before me? Probably more than a few. I will admit that there were things I worried about that, in retrospect, I needn't have. And there were things I didn't think I had the strength to do but somehow found it, deep within a reservoir of something yet undiscovered.

Now is the downhill. There were a few of them during the year - moments of triumph, relief, comfort, or coasting. Moments when I exhaled and let gravity carry me. Moments when I inhaled the fresh air, felt the breeze, and enjoyed the moment with every fiber of my being. This is where I am, this is what I'm doing, this is who I am now. And I am happy.

It's hard to begin to quantify what I've learned this year, both inside the classroom and out. It's almost impossible to put into words how amazing, life-giving, eye-opening, challenging, exciting and rewarding this year has been. It has pushed me and pulled me into a new world. I have learned to listen, to pray, to be present. To push myself and to also let myself rest. To think in a new way. To challenge and be challenged, and to not simply hear, memorize, and accept without question.

As I finish my run, having tackled 7.5 miles of hills, I feel full of energy. I am excited about the upcoming run with my classmates, partly because I'm looking forward to spending time with them and running, but also because by then I'll be done with the semester. And what better way to celebrate it than by running through the woods and getting muddy with friends. Amen!