Since last weekend, I've been involved in putting together a garden in the front of my house. Last weekend my mother and I got to work on one section of it, and Friday, Saturday and today, I finished the rest, Martin helping this weekend. I'm not usually the type of person who likes to get dirt under my fingernails. But, there was something about doing the work that was quite good for me I think. It's so unusual for me to dig with a shovel and move around some earth, you know? There's something about manual labor that in some way, seems to be therapeutic to me.

While I wasn't gardening, I was contemplating my life and how I have changed since college graduation. Actually, how my life has changed since I even got to Stetson in the first place, ten years ago. This past period of my life has been an intense time of change, self-discovery, a beautiful process. The truth of the matter is, is that even though I was always a pretty stable, good person throughout college, I made some pretty irresponsible choices during that time that I still carry some guilt about. I really feel badly about some things, things that actually didn't hurt anyone else, just me. I did things without giving a second thought to the consequences. Had I known then that I would feel bad about these things six years later, I guess I would have acted differently. But I suppose that I'll carry those lessons as a reminder for the future. I guess that's what life is about, right?

I had a telephone conversation with my friend Kim today and we talked about all of this a bit. She told me about a good friend of hers from her childhood who died recently of a drug overdose. She mentioned how three out of nine of her circle of friends had gotten seriously involved in drugs and had subsequently ruined their lives. I hate to hear stories like that. I guess that what it all comes down to is that each of us make certain choices. And whatever we choose, we end up having to deal with the consequences.


Martha at 9:51 PM