Brief History

So I was raised Catholic. My mom was raised Catholic, and so was her mother. It's the family religion. I went to a Catholic elementary school (where I first met Stacey). Then I graduated onto a Catholic high school. Catholic. Catholic. Catholic. I know a lot about the faith after attending Catholic school for fifteen years. Fifteen years. I'm only nineteen years old. That is my entire life. Wow.

Anyway, after high school, I started attending a small liberal art college in the Midwest. Let me stress the word liberal. I'd actually like to stress the word so much to change its meaning to socialistic, activists of the atheistic persona. The average student is a socialist freethinker who believe religion is for the ignorant. Okay, maybe I'm being harsh, but it at least appears this way in comparison to my Catholic roots.

I was so comfortable in my little community where I never had to defend, justify, or explain my faith. Now, I'm assumed to have no faith or belief. I have to "out" myself to my friends. It feels so foreign to me.

So what's a girl to do? Well, I can tell you what I did. I chose to take some time off from my faith. I did the normal "college thing" for my first semester. Made new friends. Had new experiences. And goofed off. But slowly, the reality set in. The winter clouds rolled in toward the end of the semester and I started to really debate my faith. I questioned everything I had ever believed. Then I felt overwhelmed. Very overwhelmed. I got scared of my own thoughts and shut them out again.

Since then, I've had some good conversations with friends at home, spiritual life directors at school, religious students on campus, and my mom. I've slowly started to realize that I need my faith. I need my community. I need that love.

But I don't know where I am now. I don't know which faith I identify with, if any. And I don't know what my actual beliefs are. So, I'm gonna share my experiences, findings, and personal discoveries. I'm sure it will be filled with frustration, struggle, and joy. That's why I've got my friend along for the ride.

Progress

Aright second try at this.. I tried to copy and paste what I had done in Microsoft Word but apparently that's not allowed so here it goes again. What an awesome idea, sharing out thoughts, adventures and dilemmas thought college, even though were 2 hours apart. Best friends, that's what you would expect. But more times than you think, college creates a void in friendships as friends go to different schools, schedules just a mess.. yeahh its all happened. But I suppose going to different high schools never stopped us, so why should going to different college's be any different.. what's the difference.. oh yeahh I can't see her on the weekends or every Monday night. :( Krista is one of a kind. She inspires me to be a better person, just receiving a text message from her brightens my day, and how could I not respond do that. I've known her since the fourth grade, sure we had our fall outs, cough cough 6th grade on the playground, not that I can recall any major events or anything, but anyway somehow was always still manage to stay in each other's lives. At the worst times, she always seems to be right there. Right after my dad's heart-attack, she was there, not even know what happened, we happened to run into each other. She has a sense for when I really need someone to talk to, she has the perfect timing for just about everything. I wish I could be the same. She's one of a kind, and I'm happy to call her my best friend. So getting to the point, this blog was meant to track our way of living. Well strangely enough, while sitting in the library writing a sociology paper, two individuals approached me asking if I had a moment to spare. Well I was just getting into my paper, but how long could it take. They proceeded to sit down and discuss the bible. At a Catholic University, not something unheard of. But in the library.. on the silent floor.. I was a little skeptical. I then thought of the conversation I had with Krista not even an hour ago, how on her campus, religions hid, but clearly it's not here. They proceeded to inform me through bible verses and such that God the Father is also God the Mother. He created humans in his likeness, than what is female created from.. His likeness too, so therefore their point made sense. I was a little taken back by this, but could tell from the research they had clearly searched the bible for this. As Catholics we often don't look into the bible as much as we should. We live our Catholic teaching based on what others say, never taking the time to read and figure out what it really says. Maybe from this point on, being the busy person I am, I'll take the time to look further into what the bible actually says. Not making any promises, but I can't really get any worse than I already am now, anything at this point is progress.

My Best Friend

I wanted to start this blog because today I realized how much I miss my best friend (the second author). My best friend, Stacey, has been in my life for many years. She hasn't always been my best friend; in fact, I'm sure she has been my enemy at times and a stranger at others. But I've grown to love her with all my heart. Over the last three years, we have grown up together. We reconnected our sophomore year of high school at our church. We rebuilt an old friendship on new values. Together, we service the poor, pray for our families, and love our lives. I'm so happy she is in my life.

My Favorite Things about Stacey

10. She wears silly sunglasses

9. She has a waterbed

8. She'll eat a large pizza with me anytime

7. She complains about the same things I do

6. She always texts me back

5. She lets me cry on her shoulder

4. She cares about her family

3. She accepts me for who I am

2. She prays for me

1. She loves me