Where does the breeze blow?

So my summer is taking an unexpected turn. I had planned on staying in Tallahassee all summer. I was trying to start a soccer camp for kids called Killearn Kicks, but it fell through. Today I found that I will be leaving rather abruptly...tomorrow actually. While I am really excited about going up to Chattanooga and working with my cousin John all summer, I have not really had a chance to process everything.

Until today I thought that I would have some more time to spend with my family and friends. All the really sweet memories that I'd planned on making suddenly vanished! No more soccer in the backyard with Natedog, Hope, Joy and Josh. No more afternoon runs with my dad around the Maclay Gardens trails. No more hugs from my mom and grandma (arguably the best huggers in North America, if not the world). No movies or lunch with Grace. No more chillaxin' at Kenley's crib. No more tricks off the Wakulla Springs high dive with everyone. No more riding motorcycles with Bryan. Just like that, my summer plans changed completely.

And although I will terribly miss being home with everyone, it is not all sad. Bittersweet would be the word. I bitterly regret seeing all those would-be memories disappear. Yet I eagerly look forward to a really sweet time in Chatty with John. We are gonna have a really solid summer. I can't wait to be up in Chattanooga, it is going to be awesome. It is kinda funny how things work out. My plans can change just like to breeze, and like the breeze I really have no control of my circumstances. The only thing that I can do is enjoy where I am and make the most of it. I guess that is one thing I'll take away from this whole thing. Maybe next time I'll just enjoy the breeze as it brushes my checks and ruffles my hair instead of worrying myself as I try to determine where it will blow.

As I was just going through some boxes that I had not yet unpacked since getting home I found my notebook from last year. It brought back some great memories also bittersweet. This past year has been one with both the indescribable joys that make your insides ache from sheer excitement and the anguish that leave you hopeless with no words to explain or express the pain. And sometime during the last year I found a quote which grasped me so powerfully that I wrote it down. It is from canto II of Dante's Divine Comedy:

As flowerlets drooped and puckered on the night
turn up to the returning sun and spread
their petals wide on his new warmth and light --
just so my wilted spirits rose again
and such a heat of zeal surged through my veins
that I was born anew.