As Capt. Jack Sparrow would say, “But WHY is the year gone?!?!?”

Today is officially the end of my junior year. I have spent all my Flex Points, turned in all my finals, and re-hung the drab Lewis curtains in my room. All that's left to do is decide what goes home for the summer and what gets to stay in South Bend. This biannual process of condensing my life never seems to prevent me from accumulating a whole lot of silly things that "might just come in handy". I am such a Wassmuth… Today also begins the awkward process of saying good bye to people "in case I don't see you again before you leave." I will inevitably see most of these people at least three more times before either of us actually rolls out of campus, but we say good bye just in case. I'm trying to push the reality of the upcoming senior year and inevitable graduation to the back of my mind, while gradually accepting that next year is going to fly by. I guess the key is to appreciate every day as it comes and not miss the present by looking too much to the future.

And in complete contradiction to what I just claimed, the next few weeks are going to be all about the future. I not only am supposed to be "personally stating" in a medical school application essay, but also completing a convoluted application and taking the dreaded MCAT. I'm trying not to complain because it's all just part of the process, but I can't actually say that it's fun either.

As I walked out of my final final about half an hour ago, my professor shook my hand and handed a copy of this prayer attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ. I'm usually skeptical about professors' attempts at a final message to wrap up their class, but this one got me. (In retrospect, I don't know that it's so much a prayer as a statement about life, but I guess God likes those too.) Enjoy.

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, whill affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings.
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.