Hiatuses OUT

Hello people of Earth.

I just wanted to ask you this simple question:
DID YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS SINCE MY LAST BLOG POST?

I didn't. I mean, I kind of did. Over the past three months there has been a little nagging in the back of my mind - this little, slightly demented, vaguely horror-movie-like voice whispering "why don't you do a blog post, Gabbie? We're waiting for you."

I suppressed it mainly out of fear because I have been incredibly, irrevocably busy. And when I write "busy" it's actually the kind with a capital B. Quite honestly, my life has not felt like my own. It's been like a movie on fast-forward for the past four months: a grainy, blur of activity with random splashes of color that come so quickly you can't be sure if you even saw them. Never before has life felt quite so  . . . hard, I guess. I can't even believe I only have 22 days of high school left.

I will be 18, a legal adult with voting rights and everything, in 12 days.
Can anyone tell me how this happened?

Either way, it's happening. I've been so busy trying to pick a college.
For those of you who don't know, I have been traveling the country in my college search for the past three months. I have been to Colorado, North Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Virginia, and West Virginia.  I virtually interviewed for a school in Georgia.

My college list started out with a couple hundred schools. I applied to over thirty schools across the country. I'm not going to lie it was stressful. It was hard. I cried often. I was overwhelmed.

But, it has also been incredibly rewarding and an amazing challenge for me. I have learned so much about myself and my faith has been strengthened.

The past three months have been hard and amazing, scary and enlightening, one of the greatest adventures I've ever had, and incredibly bittersweet. But I am back and I will be blogging again soon.

In fact, my next post will be about all the places I traveled. It will have many pictures and memories and a shout-out or two.

And . . . it will have my final choice.

Stay tuned, people of Earth. I'll be back soon.

-Gabs

P.S. I've missed you.