Saddle Up

These past three days have sort of been surreal, because this big date, JUNE 13, has been looming for awhile. Today was wonderful. Full of Karley, Liz, IKEA, shopping, food, and Rudi's house. The top picture is very appropriate to my potential living situation (which should hopefully be finalized soon!), the middle picture is a great IKEA bathroom and kitchen (500 days of summer, anyone?), and the bottom picture is where we got our [delicious] lunch.  

Tomorrow I move into the Illinois Institute of Technology (ahh!) and start my crazy adventure with Teach For America. (again...AHH!!) I am scared, excited, nervous, curious, and overwhelmed all at once. I have five weeks of intense training, two weeks of professional development through my school, and the first day of school in the first few days of August. Since I'm prone to feeling sheepish before I take a big step like this, I've looked up what important people have to say about courage and manning up. 

Quotes on being courageous always should start with our friend Winston Churchill:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

Then we go to my friend ee cummings for his offbeat and original insights: 

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

Then when we need to just dive right in, John Wayne is great for that extra shove: 

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." 

It's time to be courageous, it's time to grow up, and it's time to saddle up! The adventure begins.