Upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters.

When I was younger, I was absolutely terrified of what I called "upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters."  Between fearing death and even more so fearing the loss of my lunch, there was no way I was getting on one of those.  That is, until my brother John (who, I am very happy to say, is newly engaged to his soulmate) convinced me to try it.  I remember that roller coaster ride quite vividly.  In fact, I believe John's exact words when I pulled the harness over my head were, "Well, there's no turning back now."  Since then, you just can't keep me away from roller coasters...

...quite literally.  Pardon the overused, dramatic cliche... But I often feel like every aspect of my life is like a roller coaster.  Even the moments in the past few weeks where I thought about updating this blog are evidence of this:

1. When I came back to school just over two weeks ago to kick off my very last semester of college. (Bittersweet doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this).

2. When I found out that I was invited to the final interview for a job I applied for. (Yea, I applied for a job. Just one).

3. When I had a wonderful experience at a conference. (Still a work in progress).

4. When I realized that the old, consistently stressed out Karen is back and "better" than ever. (About which I am surprisingly surprised).

...And now... when I remembered that the whole purpose of this blog was to chronicle these things so that I can look back on this monumental year and... well... see. 

We'll see, I suppose, what ends up coming of this blog. Of this year. Of this life.

For now, I'm stressed.  Hence the overused, dramatic cliche.  Upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters. But, for the sake of positivity and "that's a stretch" analogies, I made the choice to get on this ride.  In life, you have two choices.  You can either sit on a bench and watch others on their roller coasters (because, really, everyone's life is like a roller coaster.  Let's be honest) or you can get on your own and enjoy the ride.

The upside-down, twisty-turny roller coaster that is my college career is on its last loop. If I'm going to finish this ride, I might as well appreciate the thrill. I'm not going to have my eyes closed for this one.

Besides, "there's no turning back now."