I ended up not going to work yesterday because Meredith had called me, telling me she wasn't feeling well and that I should just take the morning off too. We had a meeting to go to that evening to begin discussing the theme and save the date designs for The Arc's annual Arc Angel Donor Breakfast that is happening in October. I hope I will get to come up and visit that weekend. It sounds like a blast and it will be their 60th anniversary. Anyway, I arrived at The Arc for the meeting with Meredith, Mark, Laura, Jaiden and the two graphic designers putting together different designs. The third "save the date" and theme proposal rested on the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter and the "We Can Do It" slogan. I think it's going to turn out pretty great. I'm excited that I get to be part of some of the planning and see what goes into an event like this.

When the meeting was over, Mark advised me not to go to Cancun for Spring Break but to have fun. Meredith gave me a hug and told me to say hi to my family for her and relax over the break. Walking down 11th street towards the bus, I almost broke into tears for having to leave for a week. Half of me felt pathetic and the other half of me knew my feelings weren't completely unwarranted and that they were probably mostly coming from the knowledge of the future date when I will have to permanently leave this place. I hate knowing this is going to be over. Why does something I enjoy and feel so compelled to do with life have to be so far from home and school?

Now, its not that I'm not excited to go home; I am. It's just I've been so loved, welcomed and taught so much by this place and these people, I think it will be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I know that I do this sort of thing-get really attached to things and think they are the absolute greatest while I'm in them, but this is the first really sustainable thing that I've been attached to. I also can't entirely explain it, but my attachment isn't like anything I've ever felt before.

But, I have to trust that, like there was a reason I was brought here, there is a reason to go back. And I know that I will never forget the people I've met on this amazing journey in discovering who I am more and more.