"Well, well, look who's inside again..."
Coming of Age
This academic year, I turned 18.
This picture was taken on my birthday, April 1st. On March 31st, we had rushed my grandma to the hospital. She ended up being admitted for almost two weeks in the ICU for COVID pneumonia. (Luckily, she made a full recovery.) In this picture, wearing the pearl necklace she had just gotten me, I was celebrating a birthday while simultaneously believing my grandma would not live to see another one.
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Confusing, contrasting, paradoxical; April 1st, 2021 was just one of many strange days that exhibited- if you'll pardon the overused expression- my new life in the "new normal". I struggled greatly, and at times, it was difficult to pin down where these struggles came from. Were they a reaction to my continued life in the pandemic? Were they collateral damage from events in my personal life? Or was I simply grappling with the new responsibilities of becoming an adult? How can you find the solution to a problem when the problem seems to be ever-evolving and elusive?
And so, I did struggle. And I struggled to write this section out and put it in my portfolio, worrying that it may negatively impact how a reader of this page perceived me. But then, I thought, why pretend that I didn't have hard times over this year, as most of us likely did? Aren't the good times, the successes, and the positive experiences made all that much sweeter by the challenges we must first fight through to achieve them? And wouldn't my story of this year be incomplete if I didn't acknowledge them?
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So consider this first section of my reflection an acknowledgement of my struggles, my problems, my failures, and my shortcomings over the past year, both within and outside my control. I am grateful to them for the lessons they have taught me, learnings which I will carry with me forever. But with that said, it is time for me to conquer them, set them aside, and move forward at last into the future. They are not yet far enough in the rearview to laugh at, but one day they will be.
Making Magic
I continued my service with A Moment of Magic, providing unique character experiences to medically vulnerable children across the country. While we still have not been able to return to full in-person services, we were fortunate to attend several socially distanced face-to-face events with the community. We also continued to provide our experiences via video call.
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In my new position as training coordinator, I am now responsible for overseeing the training our character and non-character volunteers receive at the UC chapter. My work helps the chapter to uphold the high standards of compassion, authenticity, integrity, and professionalism on visits. These qualities are what allow us to have a 100% positive rating from families and medical professionals alike.
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Every time I don my uniform for a visit, I meet someone who changes my life.
