"...I wonder what I'll think three years from now. I wonder who I'll be by then."

I wrote those words several weeks after I started law school - and in less than a week I will attend class for the last time, prepare for my final round of finals, and graduate. To be honest, I'm a little stunned that I am finally here. Three years later.

It is cliche, but it can't be helped: so much has changed. I have changed. There have been the inevitable detours and roadblocks along the way (i.e. the occasional abysmal grade(s), a twice-broken relationship, multiple apartment crises), but I like to think I am learning how to move forward with some degree of grace. Change has always been a dear friend of mine because it provokes such delightful opportunities for growth - and the past three years have certainly been an exercise in embracing change fully.

How many times can one person lose their love, faith, hope, and self - only to find them again at the end of the day? Despite the perilous journey, law school didn't kill me, God didn't smite me, and I've come out on the other side a more complete me, I think.

I finally more afraid of burglars than the legal profession (as it should be, I feel - but that is not how it started out). I don't have to worry about not getting that "dream" job, because I didn't - and I not only survived, I landed somewhere I think I was meant to be in the first place. I have a newfound appreciation for my delightful family, my dear friends, early mornings, and the relentless, essential struggle that is adulthood. I've searched my soul and discovered a new kind of peace with myself that I didn't know I needed before.

So three years later, that is what I think. This is who I am. I am so thankful to have landed (nearly) on my feet. Gives me so much hope for the future, no matter what happenstance throws my way next. To new beginnings...