Influence (Last Post Of The Semester)

Christmas is only ten days away! You know it! I'm packing up and heading out tomorrow morning. Pretty much everyone else in the dorm has already gone home, but of course somebody had to work the late shift at the front desk tonight. :) It's pretty dull here...far too quiet. I honestly don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight without the guy from New Jersey practicing his guitar chords right in front of my room.

But other than the lack of activity around here, it's been a pretty famous day (that's my new favorite word for expressing something positive--famous). I finished my last two exams and I think I did quite well on them (we'll see if I'm right or not in a few days). And I got to say goodbye to everybody at the dorm. Really, three weeks apart is quite a long time. And some of the people (like a few of the International students) are going back to their home countries. Chances are I'll never see them again.

That's not as painful to think about as you'd think, though. I believe I've just come to accept that there are certain people who just waltz into your life unexpectedly, shake things up a little bit, and then are gone just as quickly. Sure, it's a little sad, but you never know where that little bit of influence will come in further down the road. When you say goodbye to someone, and it hurts, it makes you realize that they've left a piece of themselves inside of you--even if your relationship wasn't anything more than sitting next to each other in US History. And it also means that you might have influenced others--in ways both small and big. The whole concept makes me a little self-conscious about my actions, and it also makes me grateful for the people in my life, both past and present, big and small.

Whoa. Sorry for the philosophical ramble. It's late. :) I guess it's just hitting me that my words have consequence. I mean, according to my StatCounter, I have people from Oregon to Taiwan checking out this blog. I know good and well it only takes a few heartfelt blog posts (I'm looking at you DM and Grace) to change a person's ideas and perspectives. I wonder who I'm changing. That sounds arrogant, but I don't mean it to be at all. Heck, I want to be a writer. My whole business is influence, is it not? But the scary thing--or perhaps the most beautiful--is that I have little if any control over what my influence might be. None of us do.

So, I've just decided to say what I think and write what I feel (and vice-versa). My first semester of college is over. I've met a lot of people, done some crazy things, written a lot of words (that were read by a lot of folks), and I've prayed a lot of prayers. There might be silence on this thing over Christmas break (after all, it's called Adventures of a Christian Collegian), but if anything important happens I'll let you know. If not, Merry Christmas everybody, and God bless. I'll hear from you on the flip-side. It's been a ride. :)