ten years.

a little more than ten years ago, i started this blog

to document my experiences, 

opportunities, conversations, 

friendships

while i studied abroad 

at the university of cambridge

for a few months. 

i knew that summer was magical then. 

(and looking back over my 

journal from that time,

delight dances off the pages.) 

but i don't think i truly grasped

how much that summer 

would change the trajectory 

and the shape

and the loves

of my life. 

in june, 

those who could 

of our byu-pkp 2010 group

got together 

in utah 

or over zoom 

to gather

reminiscence 

and create 

new memories. 

and just--

to remember 

how much cambridge meant to us; 

how much we still mean 

to each other. 

it was a delightful couple of days. 

[masked-up cambridge friends]

[listening to other cambridge friends on the zoom call]

[hello, friends!]

[wouldn't be a proper reunion in utah without a hike]

[sam came, too. and, of course he's wearing his queens' college shirt.]

towards the end of one of the nights

we talked about what cambridge meant to us. 

and i could--and can--honestly say 

that for me, 

the two most life-changing decisions 

that i made these past ten years

(if i had to choose two) 

would be going to cambridge

and going on a mission to ukraine.

 

because 

so many other decisions and happenstances

are connected to those. 

i would not have gone to oxford 

if i had not gone to cambridge. 

and i don't know 

if sam and i would have met

and fallen in love 

if i had not gone to cambridge, either. 

so many things we don't know. 

but what i do know

is there are places in this world 

that are touched with magic 

and that i am grateful 

for people in my life

who have loved me for who i am 

but who have also allowed me 

to change, grow, and shine.