Breathe...

What a feeling. I just sealed the envelope and the last assignment is done.

Two weeks from now the ceremony will be over, the celebration will be over and life will be mine again.

I'm excited to draw near to Jesus. I'm excited to reorganize the house. I'm excited to take shifts cooking dinner. I'm excited to wake up early and go running at dawn.

I'm excited to live without limits.

I'm excited that one of the loudest ticking clocks in my head has quieted.

I'm ready to read what I want, rule my time according to His will and not a list of urgent demands. To write, to draw, to mentor teenagers, to help at church like I've never been able to before, to watch a movie with my family or to spend time with him without a trace of guilt.

I know that I'm not suddenly sinking back into another century in which hurried schedules are a thing unheard of. But after seventeen years of school dominating the horizon, I have the most delicious sense of freedom.

Life.

And a long-awaited deep breath in. A moment to breathe. What a feeling!