Hashtag Real Life?

Mom,
When I think of time in terms of this blog it seems to go by so fast.

I have left for and returned from my one month missionary& teaching excursion in Germany already,  & as I continue to process all the challenges and things I learned there I gain a larger sense of peace with it. Mom, my time over there was both one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have under taken thus far. While I know only the staff I shared it with will be able to truly understand what happened within me over there, I'm thankful to be home & able to share all my stories.

Since returning I've landed with full force: tackling doctors appointments, being back at work (& working 3 times harder to catch up), and I moved into my new apartment!

Real life has hit with no sense of ease, but a definite wave of eagerness to step up to the challenges.
...
I have always been a realist... I think you instilled that in me Mom...so it doesn't feel uncomfortable to me that real life isn't easy. To be honest, I don't think I ever had a fairytale version of adulthood anyway.

For example, today alone: Shelb & sent Kell off to her school year adventure in France, I'm tackling a storm of ants in our kitchen (I guess they thought our walls were a safe home from the heat), and writing this post on my phone as we wait to set up wifi.And that's what I expected real life to be...
It reminds me that in many weird ways, I'm thankful to you & dad for raising us in a way that prepares us to take on challenges, however big or small.

In so many ways, several unspoken on here, I know the challenges I have coming to me in the future are so much larger than some ants and  lots of tearful "see ya laters"...but right now I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for the courage&strength that God gives me for this life. I'm thankful for a deep sense of love for my friends, family, and chosen family-- even if that love makes send offs harder.  I'm thankful for "sisters" who greet me with a dinner date, after I've been gone for a month, with so much joy and anticipation an outsider would think it's been a year. I'm thankful for technology that makes getting support from now dear friends states, or countries, away so much easier. I'm thankful for you Mom, and all those in Heaven & on Earth watching out for me.

I'm thankful for all the love poured out on me, even in the challenges of my "real life" reality. Oh am I so glad we never have to do this life alone...or else I know I would have given up out of fear long ago.
Love Always and Forever
Your Daughter,
Brittany