The American Studies Program

In the moments before dreaming last night, I was bombarded with memories...faces...events...emotions...all from my semester in Washington, D.C., in the American Studies Program. As I have said before, I never seem to realize the full greatness of what I have until it is gone...and this semester was no exception!

Random memories came to mind...walking by the capitol watching the squirrels--all the while looking for the infamous "white squirrel" who haunted the capitol grounds (never saw it)...admiring time and time again the beauty and the enormity of the mouments...walking down K Street, either to get to work or to run errands while at work...working in Newt's office...(even now, the memories just come to me)...taping the windows for the hurricane, which was awesome...struggling with the issues and ideas put before us, working together towards understanding...the knowledge that I could walk downstairs to Apt. 1 anytime that I needed to talk, to laugh, to forget about my pain, because those five men are like none other...pulling pranks on Apt. 6...having them retaliate...doing a "sit-in" to get our, um, "stuff" back...working for HOURS on end to create policy for Iraq...SO MANY MEMORIES...2000 pictures to help me remember...and I pray that I never forget them, that I never forget the faces of the people who have shaped me so profoundly...

It is only now that I am realizing how much I have changed, how much they impacted me...

and how much I miss them...