SUMMER '07

The world has indeed become a lot smaller in the last few decades but when you form important and hopefully life long friendships with people who all live far from you and no where near each other the idea of communication takes on a whole different meaning. Thank God for Skype and Facebook, texting and cheaper long distant plans, but you can only go so long until your heart becomes lonely for them. After all you became friends in the first place because you could talk late into the night, vent your frustration, go out on the town, share clothes etc and far away makes this a little more difficult. So I spent a large majority of this summer saving up and traveling around to see the people who are dear to me. Some people may have questioned how I could have afforded, both time and financially to do this. I have learned and deeply believe that relationships, thought they come hard, are the essence of our existence. So I will always do without in another area if it means that I can spend time, renew and pick up where I left off with people. Here are the stories of the summer. I hope that in reading them you will see how precious these people are to me that as I move to China I will be able to continue to invest in and nurture these relationships.