My Mountain Home

Above is a picture from our Bicentennial Celebration my freshman year at the Mount, complete with a wonderful firework show! You can see Echo Field, the Seminary [main building pictured], and the Immaculate Conception Chapel to the very right. That bright thing just to the right of the seminary is Our Blessed Mother who is lit day and night, "our Beacon so bright."

I miss my Mountain home, although I can hardly call it a true mountain... to me it is more like a hill. We have real mountains back here on the West Coast. From my house you can see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Rainier. Those are real mountains.

But I do miss the Mount and I'll be glad to be going back in just a few days. There's just something about that campus. I don't know if it's the fact that living Saints have walked the same paths we walk daily [Mother Teresa visited our school twice, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived in the vicinity] or my wonderful friends or being surrounded by priests and seminarians. It's truly a great place for saints in the making.

Usually when it comes time to go back to school, I find myself dreading the transition phase. Living on two different coasts can cause somewhat of an identity crisis, particularly when basically all of my maturing as a Catholic has occurred out East. Sometimes it can feel like I live two different lives and as hard as I try-- it is difficult to synthesize them.

Somehow I feel very at peace leaving home, even though I am acutely aware that this is my last time leaving as a student. The next time I'll be home, I'll be graduated. I'll be an adult in the truest sense. And likely I'll be leaving home forever shortly thereafter, if I even come back. Essentially, I'm leaving "home" for the last time. Because when and if I do come back here, it won't be "home," at least not as I know it now. Whether I'm in a convent six months from now or in an apartment in DC, this will no longer be "home."

Maybe this sounds like a very trivial distinction. And I suppose in a way it is. I mean, in a way, this will always be my home. Because I can always come back here. Always.

It's just a strange feeling to know that I am starting "real life" by leaving this time. I have three and a half months of retreat into acadamia and then poof- I'm thrown into a world that I've never known.

Hm, well. At any rate, I'm looking forward to getting back to the Mount. I'm looking forward to great classes, awesome friends, and taking the next step regarding my future and vocation! God is good!