Guess Who's Back?!

 Hi everyone!

Sorry for my extended hiatus.  It's not that I don't enjoy writing this blog, because I very much love it!  Nevertheless, a combination of school, pandemic, work, and most of all -- a broken laptop, got in my way to bring the city to y'all.  Most of all though, I refuse to put a half-baked, half-hearted post out on this page.  Together, my spunky new pink laptop and I are here to bring more content. 

First and foremost, since I last saw everyone in January, I got a cat!  His name is Goose, a reference to my love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he is the love of my life.  Did I pick him because of his personality or the fact that he has thumbs?  You be the one to decide.  Technically, he is my emotional support cat, although I think he is really a test in patience and responsibility.  I know how to care for cats, seeing as I have always grown up with them.  However, when you need to look out for their health and wellness and happiness, it can feel a whole lot tougher.  That being said, he is my entire heart and I cannot wait for our long and happy life together.  

Second and secondmost, I am starting my senior year at Pitt?! Oh my good God where did the time go?  Now, granted, a pandemic put a little, tiny wedge in my college plans BUT I intend to make the most of this year.  Only downside is the fact that two of my best friends graduated and left me here to finish, but I am not alone.  We all know that making friends is anxiety inducing but senior year will be the year to break out of my comfortable little box I've made a home in.  In fact, for the first time in what seems like forever, I felt happiness and potential in my future semester, rather than dread.    

Going along with this mindset is easier said than done.  It's even harder to make being uncomfortable a habit, rather than a mere coincidence, but I did not sit in my room for a year and a half to waste my final year of college.  I even walked all the way to campus to sit in the Cathedral of Learning, simply to write this post.  I wanted to live in the experience even more so that my reflections may be that much more poignant.  Let me know if they are, ok? 

These reflections, you ask?  Great question.  As I sit here I feel a certain bittersweet fondness for this university.  On one hand, a year of this feeling like I belong to a community was ripped from me.  Throughout the past year and a half, I never got to sit in the Harry Potter-esque Cathedral, or sit on the 16th-floor of Cathy with my theater pals.  I didn't get to make class friends in the same way I was used to.  Frankly, it all feels incredibly unfair.  Millions of Americans have gotten to go to all four years of college with no interruption.  I mean, what are the odds I happened to be here during a life-changing pandemic?  In the long run and wide scale of tragedy, my story is highly inconsequential.  Still, though, it seems incredibly valid to me. 

However, I am thrilled beyond words to be back.  It's like all of the last year is passing.  It's like winning a game they said would be a miracle.  It is a miracle on ice except the ice is school and the miracle is that I am excited for it.  It is like a rainbow after a storm.  It's like a deep breath with a smile following.  I am more than ready to step into who I am, as a 21-year-old in a city with bars to be explored and trivia nights to be played, and a university I hold close to my heart.  I don't know what my future holds, but the other day my mom told me she knew I would do great things, and that is enough to convince me that maybe I am on the right path.  

This year will be good. 

All the love, 

Sam