Almost a year ago I started a new journey in my life and made the decision to accept a new position and move to Phoenix. It’s been such a tremendous experience and the friends I have made here and the activities I have become involved in are more than I ever could’ve asked for. Similarly, accepting the position I did, has ended up being the perfect fit. I am so happy with the activities I get to do on a daily basis and the lives I get to help.

A year has gone past since my last journey, and in a few weeks from now I will be starting another new and exciting chapter in my life. I will be traveling abroad for work and spending a few months in Afghanistan. Since I will be doing quite a bit of work and my social time to email, blog, and update people on the mundane aspects of my life in tweets could be few and far between, I figured some of you may notice my absence.

And yes, I’m completely excited for it. What I’m most nervous about is making sure I have everything under wraps before I depart. I’m getting there, but that’s why you may have noticed my calendar filling up lately. My days are completely booked with making sure all my extra curricular activities are well taken care of and that I am packing what I need to. I apologize in advance that I may not get a chance to see everyone or talk to everyone before I go. I know that a mass message is a little unpersonal, but trust me when I say that I only did this for my sanity. I just don’t have the time to call every single person I know and would’ve felt bad forgetting someone, so I kept to people that had an absolute need to know.

I am sure many of you have a million questions popping through your head. Hell, I still have a million things popping through my head.  With that being said though, there isn’t much more to tell and I would really appreciate refrain from jumping to conclusions and spreading assumptions via any method (phone, web, email, etc). If you have any questions and/or witty comments, please feel free to come to me directly and I will answer what I can.

I love you all! Please pray for my safe journey there and back and that I am able to accomplish everything I want while there. Thank you all for your support! If it wasn’t for my friends and family, I am not sure I would have the strength or courage to go through this.

Ever since I moved here I have noticed myself starting to work different hours than I normally do. Typically, my routine is to get up and just get ready and leave the house. I’ll usually arrive to work about 7am and work until 4.. then go home or do whatever I do for the evening, take a shower, go to bed, and start the whole routine over again.

This week, I have found myself taking my shower in the morning, getting into work a little later and staying later. It might be a little too early to tell, especially since it is partially due to not having access to my door yet I wait until I know someone will already be in the office, who knows. Typically, being out of routine really bothers me, but this hasn’t in the least. This evening I was able to drive home as the sun was about done setting and the sky was turning black and it was spectacular.

I promise one of these days when I take the long way home instead of the highway, I will take pictures of my view… which is mostly sunset and mountains about that time of day.

This realization today made me learn that I am able to adapt to new situations easily and am not as shaken up by disarray as I previously thought. I am looking forward to many more exciting changes and realizations about my life.

Side note, if you haven’t realized it yet, not only can you subscribe to receive updates via RSS feed but there is also a spot on the left to sign up to receive new posts daily via email… and you can always follow me on blogger if you have a blogger account.

Since I have begun yet another chapter in my life, I have decided to start a blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, I would like to have an easily accessible way to share my stories with all my friends at the same time. I have also decided to use this as a way to archive my life journey.

Why the title? Back in 2006 when I was in my last year of graduate school, I discovered one of my classmates that was in several of my classes had this amazing bracelet. It was silver and had five tiles on it that had the words grace, balance, courage, truth, and wisdom on them. I asked where she had gotten it and for graduation, she surprised me with my own as a present. Ever since that day, I have never gone a day without wearing that bracelet unless I had a special occasion. It has been with me through the past two years, and those have been the years that I have faced the most difficult life challenges. The bracelet’s still here, and I’ve managed to get through everything.

On that note, as I was still pondering a name for this blog, I received a text from my mom when I turned my phone back on when I landed in Phoenix. My mom doesn’t text very often, so that, in combination with the contents, made it ever more clear. It said,

“Been thinking of you all day. I am so proud of your courage and independence. Go far and be happy. Call when you get home to Arizona. Love, Mom.”

I would like to thank all of my friends and family for giving me the support and courage I needed to make the decision to move and accept my new position. I know it was hard on so many, especially with the end result being a move so far away from most of you.

In conclusion, I’d like to welcome all readers. Feel free to post comments, contact me, and subscribe to my blog via email or RSS.