“As far as I’m concerned, 2018 ended when I got back from Italy.” -my best friend who studied in Milan at the same time I was in Rome
Same tho.
It’s weird to reflect on the past year because the first third was drastically different from the remaining two-thirds. I think 2018 ran from January 1-May 8, and that’s when 2018 1/3 started because it doesn’t feel like everything belongs together in one year. But I cannot believe that the entire year is over.
A year ago, on New Year’s Eve, I was one week away from embarking on the greatest adventure of my life. I spent the evening with my best friend, worked my butt off at Hy-Vee the next five days, spent one day finishing up packing, and then left the country for four months to live in my favorite city in the world. When I left, I definitely wasn’t in a good place socially, emotionally, or spiritually, but this escape to a new place with plenty of people who didn’t know me well or know me at all, turned out to be just what I needed—and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
My friend did an awesome job capturing our daily lives abroad, but the January vlog is my favorite, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45RvWkEzQ0Y
In Rome, I found adventure, myself, a wonderful family, and a home. Every single part of that semester (including breaking my leg) was such an incredible gift, and I can never cease praising God for His generosity. Because of this, however, the rest of 2018 pales in comparison, despite its goodness.
2018 1/3 was essentially like every other year, except it was lived while looking through the eyes of the new woman I became in Rome. I did Totus Tuus again, even though I didn’t want to, and it was offered to the Lord as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for all He had given me in Rome.
I went to Bismarck three times before school started up again, which wouldn’t have happened before going to Rome. I had fallen in love with UMary, and I was overflowing with gratitude for the wonderful university. One of the times I went back was through the love of my Rome fam and the generosity of my Totus Tuus team—I got to attend the Rome reunion and spend an evening with 14/19 classmates, all of our residence staff, 2/3 professors, and one of our chaplains. Praise the Lord!
My family went to Colorado to visit my grandpa and aunt, but we also got to spend time with one of the priests that I became friends with in Rome.
I worked at Hy-Vee to begin replenishing my dying bank account.
I went back to school with a joyful and grateful heart and was blessed to live with one of my closest friends and some other wonderful women. I threw myself into my classes and let myself love them even when they were difficult. I cheered on our Marauders at the hockey games. I even volunteered for the University by serving as an ambassador for the Rome program (https://www.umary.edu/_resources/pdfs/global-studies/MaggieHelgeland.pdf) and as a lector for the noon Masses on campus. These are all things I never would have done/appreciated before going to Rome.
I look ahead to 2019 and think that it has its work cut out for it if it wants to, in any way, compete with the goodness of 2018. But part of the excitement of the upcoming year is the unknowns. I move to Arizona on January 2 to take classes at Arizona State as a student missionary for the University of Mary. My classes have yet to be finalized and I have no idea what exactly I’ll be doing mission-wise, not to mention I committed to the program only a month ago, so it’ll be an adventure. Several people have been asking me what I’m doing this summer, and I have absolutely no idea. In the fall I’ll be taking my last semester of classes before doing my final internship and graduating. I hope at some point during the year I can go back home (Rome).
I hope that 2019 is filled with less goodbyes than 2018—I’m really tired of saying goodbye. I found this quote before I left UMary in December of 2017, and I really like it:
It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.
-Ernie Harwell
This isn’t a “Goodbye 2018 & 2018 1/3,” it’s a “Hello 2019.” God is never outdone in generosity. 2018 was incredible, and maybe 2019 will be even better.