Footprints

fifteen

Well, I'm home. I've been home for a couple weeks in fact, but time got away with me, and I never had a chance to write. It was weirdly normal, coming back. I slid into the old routine of things right away. Flying home and leaving Germany wasn't as hard as I'd expected it to be. I mean, it was definitely bittersweet, but not overwhelmingly sad. I think the saddest moment before I left Germany was still the going-away party with my friends, as I've written about before...I guess that's when realized it all, and when I accepted it.

When Lea and I landed in Spokane and got our luggage, my family came around the corner and surprised us. It was a wonderful feeling, seeing them again, and finally feeling at home. I didn't have to be back at our house or sitting in my old bed because just being around them made me feel at home. Home is not always a place.

These past few weeks we've been pretty busy. Lea and I went to Camp Reed for a week, which was a lot of fun. On the weekends we've been at the lake hanging out. We've gone shopping and went to a theme park. A couple days ago, there was a surprise party for me where I got to see my friends. I'd missed them so much and the party was tons of fun. It's all been great, and Lea really likes it here. She already leaves to go back on Thursday...Everything goes by so fast.

Being in Germany has changed me into a different person. I'm still the same old Jenika with freckles and blue-gray eyes, obviously, but it's changed my perspective. Making my new friends was probably my favorite thing, but I also learned a lot, and realized how big the world actually is. Going to Germany was the biggest thing that's happened to me throughout my entire life. The biggest, scariest, and greatest adventure I've ever had. I've written so much about my experience that, now that I'm home, it's hard to put it all into words. The year was a whirlwind of so many things, but definitely unforgettable, for one.

It's curious, the footprints you leave in people's lives. What I mean by footprints is how people remember you. Well, not how people remember you, but it's like this: some people are hard-wood floors; you step on it, and no trace of you stepping there is left behind. It's just blank, the same old wood that there was before, as if you'd never even passed through.

Other people are like sand; you walk on it, and your footprints leave a track as you go. You can see them for a while, but eventually the wind blows them away, or the tide comes and washes them into the sea. They lasted, but they only lasted for a certain amount of time.

And finally, people can be like cement; by cement, I mean the freshly poured cement, the still-wet kind. The kind that, if you walk on it, you can clearly see your footprint imprinted in it. And after a while, the cement dries, and your footprint is still there. Your footprint stays there as long as the cement does. Sure, it might fade over time, but it's always there. You can always see it. There are not many cement people you meet in your life. Hang on to the ones you find, though, because they are pretty special. So that's my analogy of life and people, I guess; footprints.

I wrote this story for me. It's not really a story, more like an autobiography of the year. I always wrote when I was trying to sort through my thoughts and emotions. I wrote it mainly so I can go back and read it whenever I want. I want to remember it all, and of course, this isn't everything from the year, but it's what I felt was important. Now, I can always read this and go back to all my different thoughts, feelings, and adventures in Germany. I didn't write this for anyone else, but it's been fun to share my story. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Well, here we are. At the end of my adventure. Technically, my adventure is already over. It's taken a long time to get here, and it's taken no time at all. I will never forget it, nor will I forget what it was like. I'll miss it, but now's a time for a new chapter in my life. Now's a time for something different. I start high school in a week, and that will have just as many adventures. Life's a roller coaster ride, but I like roller coasters. I'm up for the challenge. We all are, we all have to be, that's why we're alive.

This was the story of my adventure.

And this is how it ends.