  While waiting for people to call in football scores, I was instant messaging Alexa. She's one of the first people I met in Murray my freshman year. She lived on my floor for three years and spent as much time as I did in Wilson Hall, where the journalism department was located. She worked for the yearbook and I worked for the newspaper. When I was having issues with the newspaper, she recruited me upstairs to the yearbook. Then I got things worked out at the paper and my senior year I worked at both. With 12 hours of classes, six of which were 100-level electives, who was going to pass up two paychecks earned doing what I love?
My heart was in the newspapers, but Alexa was one of the best things about working at the yearbook. She has this joy for life that encourages me. And she was a constant in my four years at Murray. Even though Alexa and I didn't always hang out or make lots of plans, I loved running into her on campus and spontaneously eating lunch or talking about "Felicity" or other entertainment news, which Alexa is always up on. That's Alexa. She reminds me a lot of Murray and right now I am missing lots of things about it.
(Yes, I know, that's hard to believe. I even surprise myself. ) You know, I spent most of my senior year being so ready for graduation -- so ready to get out of Murray and away from classes. I didn't even think about what life would be like elsewhere. Then I spent the summer in Lexington, where I was surprisingly very comfortable. I loved going to church to hear Mike Breaux preach. God met me there every Sunday. But didn't get involved more because I knew I would only be there for 10 weeks. I had friends there who I hung out with while I was in high school, so I didn't have to worry about making new ones.
Now I miss Lexington, too. And not even because Greg is there now. (Although I would love to be in the same city as him, too. ) I am fine in Louisville. I am just missing some of the comforts of the other places -- mainly my favorite people to be with. The emails and long-distant calls remind of me of that. I think about where I can make some friends here and my mind is blank.
I enjoy working with Lori, who conveniently went to Murray State, too. That's an instant conversation starter right there. And Cara is here, but living on a pretty different schedule. And I miss her too often for her only living 30 minutes away. I also wish I had a church here that I loved. But among the wishes and misses, I am blessed here. My family is close and I enjoy hanging out with them. My mom and I talk almost every day. I also get to see most of Cassie's soccer games.
And because my brother lacks a license and a car but fortunately has a job, I take him to work sometimes. And I am definitely not complaining about Greg being a little more than an hour down I-64 and getting to see him about once a week. I'm not unhappy, actually quite far from it, just continuing to deal with growing-up changes. You know, Peter Pan had a point. And my only complaint about work tonight is my co-worker watching a war movie really loud. The constant gunshots give me a headache and make me tense. Other than that, I played a few games online and chatted with Alexa. And for the record, I don't like the word chatted, although it is better than "surfin' the web.
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