Summer 2024 Reflection - Girly

Here is our second week of summer observations - enjoy!

Hey! This is Girly, the oldest of the three daughters. This summer was filled with several eventful things that I will go into more detail throughout this blog. This summer I learned and grew so much and had some experiences that I am very grateful for.

Starting off on May 1, I finished my last final of my freshman year of college, which was chemistry. Let’s just say that my freshman year was not the best, but there was a lot of growth involved. I was happy it was over, and I could enjoy my summer. On May 6th, I got diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and was given meds to help my daily anxiety and ones to help with anxiety attacks when those occur. This was a huge breakthrough for me, because I have struggled for years, and it was such a relief to finally get answers and work on bettering myself. On May 10, I went with my grandma and her sister to Italy and stayed there for 10 days. This was my first ever time going to Europe, so it was an amazing experience. While in Italy, I got to try so many local foods and flavors, my favorite thing being a little margherita pizza that I got from a small local bakery from a little town. I had the opportunity to go to Pisa, Florence, Peccioli, Milan, and Rome. I got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Giants of Peccioli, the Dumos of both Florence and Milan, and of course the Colosseum. All of these cities had amazing buildings and structures, but that was not the most impressive thing to me. The artwork and the statues were beyond anything that I had ever seen before. It was like walking into a time machine, and getting to see all these amazing pieces of art from centuries and several millennia was breath taking.

As soon as I got back from Italy, I started a summer internship at my church as the kid’s ministry intern. One thing I did was put together everything for VBS, which is a lot more work than it seems. It required a lot of counting, math, organizing, decorating, and so many snacks. I am talking hundreds and hundreds of snacks. All the long hours at work were definitely worth it seeing those kids smile and be filled with pure joy. After VBS was kid’s art day. Now, I am not a very artistic person, and I am also very insecure and self-critical, so this was a huge learning curve for me. I had to come up with craft ideas to match specific Bible stories, all while making sure it was age appropriate for the group it was going to. This was tedious, but again ended with much laughter from the kids and it was all worth it. After art day, I had to prepare for 2 camp events that occurred on back-to-back weeks. Once again involving a lot of ordering, counting, math, creativity, contacting volunteers, and much more. The first camp was hosted at the church for the kids who were not able to go to the main kid’s camp that goes somewhere else. The first camp was for ages 4-11 and was all about ways to worship God. They had a STEM night, serve night, Fine Art night, and a water night (that ended up being put in the gym due to bad weather). The next camp had much less prep on my part since it was a physical summer camp and not at the church. All I had to do was take inventory of what we had, get a list of more stuff we needed ordered, make leader gift bags, and pack up all the stuff. That camp was called CentriKid, and the theme was Wow Factor. Filled with lots of kids getting sick and going home early, and so many thunderstorms, it was one that will not be forgotten.

August 6th was my last day of work. August 7th, I had to get two cortisone shots in my lower back, specifically my L3/L4 intervertebral disc and my L4/L5 intervertebral disc (for all you anatomy nerds out there). I was in a car accident in May of 2023 and as a result, I got two bulging intervertebral discs in the lumbar region of my back. It caused a lot of pain, and I was not able to stand or sit for more than two hours at a time and not feel pain. With me starting nursing school in January 2025, I knew that I had to get something done and get some relief. The first 3-4 days after the shot, I was extremely sore and had limited movement, but after now a week and a half, I can say it definitely works. On August 11th it was my 19th birthday and the day I moved into my apartment back at school, which means August 12th was my first day of sophomore year at college. A week in, it is already so much better than last year.

My summer was filled with so many wonderful, challenging, and beautiful experiences. I am beyond blessed to have gotten these opportunities to grow, learn, and discover this beautiful world we live on. It was an unforgettable summer that will be very hard to top.