Smoke on the Horizon

As I drove across Kansas with my dad last week there were at least two separate occasions where smoke hung heavy in the distance.Wildfires, most likely, given that there were signs explicitly stating a state-wide burn ban. Now, we didn't really see any of the fires, the highway always took us off in a different direction closer and closer to Denver. Normally, that'd be an omen, right? Smoke looming on the horizon, a sign of bad things to come ahead. Fire, destruction, loss. All things that fire brings.

But I don't think that's a sign of bad things to come for my sophomore year. Thing is, fire also renews. It makes grass re-seed, it heats some seeds into growing. It's a catalyst for something new, something great. So I'm thinking of it like this: Summer was a fire to an extent. Temperatures usually at one-hundred plus, using time spent to myself to "burn" away and build my character stronger than before, and time just spent waiting, waiting for the flames to simmer down. So when the flames settle, the smoke clears, and what's left? I'd like to think it's the seeds I planted in my freshman year, finally coming to sprout.

But I don't think it's time to reap what I've sown. They're just little sprouts at this point. I said to a professor during lunch following the TA orientation walk that, "I'm a Political Economy major, but right now I've just barely got my foot in the door." It's true, I'm still way back at the beginning of my four years here at Regis, though the halfway point is fast approaching. I've got things going; my TA position for a great bunch of freshman, my upper-division courses, and even a possible internship in Washington D.C.. It's all building, growing, shaping into something that I could never have predicted.

So that smoke on the horizon? Nah, it's nothing I'm worried about. It's just at the end of my road, getting things ready for when I finally reach it. It'll hang there for a while, but in the end I'll be reaping the benefits for years to come. Prospects are good for this year, and I'm glad to be back in the swing of it all.

And thanks to a busy schedule, I'll be up early yet again tomorrow. So for now I'm off, until next time...