Welcome.

Come one, come all. Welcome to my new blog.

My name is Carmen Marie Vajgrt, hi mom, and this is my attempt to share my thoughts on how the world seems to work. As the summer of 2014 winds down, I have been sensing this overwhelming feeling of change. Realizations that have been allusive until now. So here it goes, I am going to share them with you all. One blog post at a time, of course.

Since this is an introduction, I find it necessary to let all of you in on some of the changes that have been taking place. Mostly, they are changes every typical college freshman experiences. In a mere seven days I will be moving to Columbia, Missouri to begin what I hope to be an amazing journey at the University of Missouri. This means that I must say goodbye to dear friends, my loving family and my beloved bedroom – where I happen to be at this very moment. Although I will be eating dorm food (thanks goodness otherwise I might starve), I must actually take care of myself. Thankfully, I have had wonderful parents that have taught me the valuable necessities to taking care of oneself. I can proudly say that I can do my own laundry, vacuum, clean up spills, wash dishes, keep my room clean (my dad might beg to differ), shower, and know when it’s time to take out the trash. But now, those jobs aren’t just a list of chores left on the kitchen table. I must take it upon myself to know that those things need to be done in order to live the way I have been living for the past 18 years. Now I know that some college students have been waiting those 18 years to finally break loose from the order that their parents have demanded of them and become what I like to call “chaotically organized,” but if any of you reading this know me, everything has a place and moldy dishes terrify me.

Basically, goodbyes and no-longer-an-option-responsibilities are the biggest things taking place in my life at the moment. Here’s the thing, reader, that I have realized about both of those things; they are both a big part of growing up. You will always have another goodbye to say and another responsibility to take on. Now this isn’t meant to be a cynical world view, in fact, it is meant to be just the opposite. There is such beauty in a goodbye. Another chapter ended. Another story or memory to tell. Responsibilities are like new checkpoints that you get to pass through after a job well done. New challenges. New adventures. Responsibilities are God’s way of keeping life interesting. Embrace them both.

So here it was. The first post.