five.

for family night yesterday, ricks and i wrote out our 5 year plan. i think that putting all our hopes and dreams and even expectations into writing like that really helped me to realize how much happens in such a short amount of time when you first become an adult.
just in the last 5 years i went from an 17 year-old girl wrapping up my senior year of high school in orem, utah to a 22 year-old married college graduate and MLIS candidate living in davis, california. and those are only the formal changes to say nothing of the less noticeable, gradual changes that have taken place over the last 5 years. i like to think that i am a totally different alexis now than i was then and i think in a lot of ways i am. i know in some areas i have certainly improved and become wiser and yet, at the same time, new flaws have creeped into my life or perhaps are only being noticed for the first time as i have worked away the more noticeable imperfections.
i think what im trying to say is that 5 years from now, i hope i can look back on the challenges i faced and the way in which i handled them and be proud. i hope that i can quit yearning for attributes i once had, as i sometimes do, because the present me is the best me and with each future trial and challenge that i overcome, i will only get better. i really am proud of myself and how far ive allowed myself to come in the last 5 years and im grateful to god for how he has pushed me and yet, at the same time, handled me so gently. i have definitely faced some major personal hurdles that have left their mark on me but those are there only to serve as a reminder of what i am capable of and im quite ready to face the next 5 years with gusto! i know it is cliche, but in all seriousness, bring it on!