Young blood 6/3

Well, I finally started my job last week. I'm now trying to get myself acclimated to a routine of waking up at 7, breakfast by 7:35 and off to work by 7:50. As I walk into work each day I am always greeted with smiling faces and warm welcomes. I think to myself often of how I always take these kind little gestures for granted and how much of an impact they really carry with them. It's kind of like the one thing I always look forward to when I go to work each day. Granted, I've only been here four days now but each time it feels so great to see that smiling face or hear that cheery, "good morning." The second I found out that I would have my own desk and work area I started working through my mind what I wanted to bring to work to decorate my area. That same night, after I was finished with work, I went home and collected all of my favorite knick-knacks, pictures, figures, and decorations to put up in my little "personal cubby," as I like to call it. For those of you who don't know me, I am a picture fiend. I love taking pictures and I love having my walls covered in pictures of my friends. I guess you could say that I love memories. I always feel bad, too -- because my mother is such a big advocate of preserving pictures in scrapbooks, as she is a Creative Memories consultant -- but I just can't do it. I would much rather have all of my pictures out where I can see them and enjoy the memories as I gaze off in a daydream while typing mid-sentence at work. It's as though when I look at those pictures I am able to replay everything in my mind of how that picture came about. For instance, as I look at my little cubby wall right now, there are several pictures from my winter formal. You can't even begin to imagine how much fun our winter formal was. It was a masquerade, and I wore my red dress from my junior prom and had a glittery red mask on my face. I went with one of my best friends, Adam Sommer and we spent that whole night with friends, dancing and just living the whole experience. I look at these pictures, a little fearful that I might forget, but I just keep reliving the memories every I glance over at them. My friends get a little annoyed with me sometimes because I am always yelling for them to wait so that I can take a picture, but it's just that so many incredible things have happened in my life and I don't want to forget them. There are pictures from high school and my friends and my infamous locker naps between classes. There are pictures from retreats, dances, parties, Saturday outtings, summer mission trips, football games, and best of all, there are pictures of all of my friends and family. I know this sounds somewhat silly of me to say but go out and take some pictures. Haven't you ever been somewhere and just wanted a camera to capture the moment, the memory? Sometimes, when I'm not having a good day or I'm a little sad or whatever it might be. I pull out my pictures and many scrapbooks and just start flipping through them. You can't imagine how much my mood changes in a matter of minutes. Memories are kind of like that instant smile you need, and pictures help preserve that.