Oh my gosh. This blog has been an epic fail on my part this year and I apologize sincerely to those of you who I know are dedicated followers. But to put it simply, this year wasn't quite as exciting on a constant basis as last year was. But. My job here at Big Brothers Big Sisters has been fulfilling for the most part, but I am more than ready to move on.
Being an AmeriCorps*VISTA for a year has shown me how much help really is needed in every community. Being a VISTA we are to live in poverty as those we are helping do every day. Whenever I would lose focus as to why I am here, there would always be a reminder that would pop up, whether it was getting to talk to a kid and how having a Big Brother has changed his life, or hearing a Big talk about the accomplishments they have seen their little do in such little time. The kids that benefit from this program really do need an extra support and I encourage all of you out there, if not becoming a mentor, to look into volunteer opportunities around your community and give back. I know that once I get settled I am going to continue to be a part of this program and want to become a Big Sister myself.
Now, the big question, what's next?? Well. As I am on a roll of moving to new and exciting places, I am all packed up and ready to move to Louisville, KY this Friday. I will be moving there with my boyfriend Travis whom I met here in Spartanburg where he was part of a program where he was a Writer in Residence.When he moved back to Kentucky we were going through our options and tried our darndest to move to Charleston, SC because it is so dreamy and beautiful and quite awesome. But. It just wasn't in the cards for us. Finding a place to live and for me finding a job just wasn't lining up. So We decided on Louisville, a place neither of us has lived, but is only a 2 hour drive from his family and where there are many more opportunities for me to find a job there. I just found out this afternoon that I received a position with AmeriCorps as a VISTA Leader (a step up from what I'm currently doing.) Essentially I will be a leader and support for 12 VISTAs in Louisville and be a kind of liaison for them and their supervisors to get them through their year. Yes, this will be my 3rd year with AmeriCorps, but AmeriCorps has been such an amazing experience for me so far, I figure one last year wouldn't hurt. (hint: keep an eye out on Facebook, if I get it, you will certainly know, if you don't see it on my Facebook chances are you'd hear it from me or my mom anyway.)
When I first went into AmeriCorps NCCC 2 years ago I was a naive girl who had yet to move away from home because for some reason I was scared of this big world. But. Little did I know, I would grow so much as a person simply by letting go and moving on. NCCC opened my eyes to the beautiful concept of community service. I had never given a thought to helping anyone else out, I was worried about surviving myself. But when my eyes were opened to how lucky I have been in life as to what I have been provided, I realized I had to become selfless and spend my life giving back to others that are less fortunate than I. Being able to provide direct service and physically see the difference I made is so heart warming and pushed me to want to do more. So when I decided to become a VISTA, I got to see the other side of service which is essentially the behind the scenes work.
Proof that this year has helped me grow as a person is that I am moving to a brand new city where I only know one person, at the time didn't have a job and will essentially be starting new. The Annie 2 years ago would be having an absolute catastrophic meltdown at the idea of all of that. But. I have grown to the point where I have enough confidence in myself that I know I want to be happy there. I have this new outlook on life that everything will fall into place as it is supposed to. Although I have to work for it, but I am more than willing to work for it. I want to be successful in life, and success in life right now to me is being happy, and enjoying what I do everyday. I don't want to settle for a job that I wake up every morning dreading having to go to work. I want to be excited to go. Now, if to start I have to settle for that job to become stable while I find that job, I can handle that, but I won't give into that forever.
I also realized that I know now where my sense of adventure and fearlessness to move to a brand new place comes from. My dad. My dad was a man who did things "just cause". He wanted to move to Florida and work at Universal Studios, so, he packed up his family of 4 and moved to Orlando, FL (with a 1 and 6 year old, brave, brave man). For whatever reason, it didn't work out, so, we moved right back to Maine. Then 12 years later, he wants to be a security guard at the Sahara hotel, ok, sure, let's all up and move all the way across the country to Las Vegas (what!?). I love so much telling people that story because it takes them by surprise every time because it is so out of the ordinary for a family from Maine to up and move to Vegas for 8 months. But I have come to realize, if you take a chance and it doesn't work out, there is always somewhere to go. There will always be people supporting you and a place to go back to. I want to move to Louisville, so by gosh, I'm going to!
It was such a relief to hear today about getting this position. It is going to be a great way to network and learn a lot about the Louisville community. I am also going to take the time to volunteer some places. I really want to volunteer at the Louisville Science Center and learn more about what they do, as well as hopefully becoming a Big Sister at some point this year. So. Just wanted to share all this fabulous information with you. I am not guaranteeing that I will get any better at this blog, but maybe I can come up with a new concept for it that will make me want to share my new experiences with you. Wish me luck and drop me a text/facebook/email message if you would like my new address. Mail and goodies are always accepted. <3 you all!
