Life experiences are a mixed blessing. I just gained a part-time position as an adult classes Spanish teacher in San Marcos, I've been out hanging with new friends and playing basketball more, I've been doing more reading for myself lately, I've been eating better, etc. At the same time, life has been really rough. Getting out of a long-term relationship (and possibly the friendship ending as well), dealing with health issues, preparing for the GRE, day to day money survival,...these things have taken their toll. But I always find a way to overcome them.

In the midst of it, the other day I was congratulated on my new job by a close friend. When I said I would still be at HEB, they said "At least you are one step closer to doing something that means something!"

While I understand they were only trying to encourage me more about my new job, I wish they'd have phrased it differently. But, even with the phrasing I didn't care for, I was glad they did so. I began to reevaluate my time at HEB. Of course, I don't believe my job title is anything that has made me gain much. All I've gotten from my paper title is some physical exercise, a little fruit and veggie in my diet, and a developed patience for people in general.

When I transfered stores from Georgetown, TX to Kyle, TX, I didn't expect to find anything other than what I'd found at previous stores in terms of discussion or personal encounters. I couldn't have underestimated where I was going more. I have had the pleasure, and still do, of working alongside and forming bonds with some of the brightest and most forward-thinking people I've ever known. If it weren't for my stimulating discussions with them, my revelations alongside them, I don't know what my school experience would have been like at Texas State. From history to politics, from philosophy to science, from music to movies, I have had discussions and relationships cultivated with these few co-workers in a ways that I could never have imagined.

At the same time, I know I've helped a few people a long the way. I don't refer only to personal struggles, though I've had quite a few of those discussions with these people. I've helped some people, as they've helped me, understand more fully where they see the world from. Some have changed with time and experience, some haven't. I've gotten so much more from the HEB I work at than anything the people running that store could have expected or thought of. My close knit group of co-workers and I may not always work together, but I know we're forever altered and changed as a result of having worked together for these past three years and for however much longer we should be fortunate enough to be around each other.

I don't know how I'm going to deal with a lot of the sudden confusing and problematic situations life has hoisted on me. I'm sure I'll handle it like I tend to handle most things. But I find a lot of comfort in the fact that when I moved out here on my own, starting into a new kind of unknown, environment of University and intellectual stimulation, I dealt with it in ways that I didn't even know were ways to deal with it. I found comfort, help, development, and growth in places I could have never expected. I'm sure that's something I'll run into again in this next phase of my life.