things that stopped me in my tracks

Moments:

1) Went with my aunt to pick out her wedding dress.

2) Received an emotional e-mail from someone of the past.

3) Attended my first sorority meeting since my term as Vice President ended.

Connections:

I think the common themes that were brought up in all of the situations that stopped me in my tracks were change, and the end of something whether it had a good or bad connotation. In the first instance, I went with my aunt, who happens to only be seven years older than I am, and grew up in my house, to select her wedding gown. While it was a very happy event, I think the idea of a family change, and the end of her seeming just as young as I am, and only being part of our family arose feelings of discomfort for me. When I received the e-mail from a person of the past, prior to even reading it, I was stopped in my tracks. I was worried how my feelings, actions, and ideas would change based on reading it, and how my connections with this person might be altered as well. I was anxious that life as I know it, in regards to this social aspect, could end based on what this person would have to say. In the last situation, I was reentered into my sorority as a general member, and offered only a seat in the crowd, rather than the spot I've held for the past year at the front of the room. This was a great step forward for the sorority as a whole, but personally, the change and the end of that term caused some emotional turmoil.

The connection of change and endings is not a surprise to me. I am openly able to admit that these concepts are two things that frazzle me, and many others. As a senior that is approaching graduation, I constantly witness my peers struggle with these concepts in the idea of what will happen after college. In knowing that these two concepts bother me, I can go forward prepared to deal with them because they are ultimately out of my control. They are a crucial part of life, inevitable aspects of our every being.