Post Bubble Depression

If you've ever seen a college brochure, they're splashed with bright photos of students doing happy college things.  There's the happy musician playing guitar on the green grassy quad.  There's the happy trio of girls sprawled out on a soft carpeted floor studying for their next test.  There's the happy student and professor shot trying to sell you on the small student to faculty ratio. 

Our brochures have that stuff too.  The thing about our brochures that you might not be ready for is they're real.  We DO have happy musicians playing on the quad.  We DO have the happy trio studying away and the happy student talking with their professor.  Of course, you can be miserable anywhere, and if you choose, you could be miserable there.  It's not a perfect experience but on average, the experience is pretty close to the brochure. 

This is great.  I love happy musicians and spending time having conversations with professors who really care.  The only problem with studying at such a wonderful institution is the hangover the next day. 

I spent four years in a place where I was cared for, nurtured, trained to make a difference in the world.  It was one big happy party... minus the alcohol because of school policy.  Then I graduated.  I walked across that stage, shook S.R.'s hand as he congratulated me, finished packing my stuff, said goodbye to my best friends of four years and drove the twenty hours home.  Most of my stuff is still in the garage because I have a bedroom again, not an apartment.  

The first few days being home it hit me.  I'm back to a world where you lock your house, lock your car, and don't walk by yourself after dark.  I'm back to a world where the news is something you watch if you want to be sad, and you can't walk or ride your bike anywhere you'd want to go.  I'm back in the reality of a recovering economy and family responsibilities with two grandmas who have Alzheimers.  

I know you're thinking... wait, this is Little Miss Sunshine, what's with the clouds?  Here's the deal.  If the rest of my life is going to be spent knowing Jesus better, that means life gets better as it goes.  I'm going to have to figure out what's going to pay bills that I'm going to have soon.  Yep, there will be people in my life who will leave.  That will be hard.  When I get a little overwhelmed thinking, "Man I wish I was back in college, real life is too hard."   

If we really think that bills and dishes are what's real about real life, we've missed it.  Life is learning to follow Jesus and jumping into doing His work wherever you are.  It's cherishing those friends who love you so much it's kind of overwhelming.  It's trusting that God keeps His promises, like the one that says He'll never give you more than you can handle and He's never going to jump ship on you.  If this is real life, maybe I'll be ok.

Little Miss Sunshine