Education.

Just a little over five years ago I stood at a precipice, momentarily looked back at my childhood, took a deep breath which would be the last thing I did safely, and then fell into the vast canyon of adulthood. A canyon with lots of other things to fall off of. A canyon with things that would fall on me, rock of all sizes, other falling people who had lost their footing or were pushed or... I think you get the idea. I was once 19 and scared of everything and then quite suddenly I was 20 and not scared, despite the odds against me, despite the knowledge that there were monsters and creatures in this world that would surely eat me alive if they had the chance.

But they never got the chance. I sat this morning looking over my MASSIVE student loans and realized that I was overwhelmed, immensely confused, devastatingly poor, but also... distinctly appreciative.

I know, I wrote about being thankful for Joseph yesterday, and was was going to write a post about being thankful for marriage today, but I changed my mind. Today, I'm thankful for my education. 

Somehow, I survived 5 years of college. And I not only survived but I enjoyed it. I met genuine people and made wonderful friends, I was involved with Gospel Choir and sang at coffeehouses and got to be the copy editor for the yearbook, I learned all about teaching, and learned about learning. I played duck-duck-goose in a mud puddle and had giant snowball fights and got to dance on the 99th floor of the Sears (Willis) Tower. All those joyous things were worth the moments of heartbreak and bewilderment, the days where I failed a test (or even failed a class!), the ravenous depression that occasionally threatened to consume me. And these insanely hefty, daunting, mountainous student loans made all of that happen.

I'm not thankful for student loans in-and-of themselves. The amount of these loans I will not detail here, because frankly... it's a little embarrassing. But I am thankful that they made it possible for me to go to school, and made it possible for so many others as well. I'm thankful for the blessing I received for 5 straight years.

End Day 8. Marriage post tomorrow!