Reflecting

This past weekend is a sad weekend to be a Penn State alumna; my heart aches for the Paterno family. May Joe be remembered for the many wonderful contributions he made, not just for the great football coach he was; exactly how he wanted it.

One of my fondest memories of JoePa is when he came to my high school to recruit Pat Devlin during my junior year. I was so upset with the thought I didn't have the chance to meet him then, as he has been my idol since I was old enough to understand who he was. Fortunately, my dreams came true that day, and I got to shake his hand. It was totally worth being late to class.

At that point, I'd mainly known him as the Penn State football coach and the man who gave much of his life to the university that I would later attend. Now, I see him as a figure engrained in not only football but academics, as well.. My favorite place to be on campus was the 5th floor in the Paterno Library, the education library After having attended that university for four years, I realize at times I was much too critical about certain aspects. Life there was not all that bad. In fact, it was great.

Life in State College, PA is similar to life here in Cherry Point, NC. Both rural areas built up by one main attraction. Here is Cherry Point, there, Penn State. It also features another aspect of my life that I hold very near and dear to my heart: lifetime friends and support of the community. In Cherry Point, I have my Marine wives who support me through deployments and understand exactly what I'm going through. In State College, I had friends in my classes helping to guide me through my college years.

I didn't realize until this very moment about how similar these two places could actually be. The underlying aspects of life as a military wife and life as a Penn Stater are mainly what ties it together. I am SO proud to be a wife of a Marine, while I'm also proud to be a graduate of Penn State and to have had these experiences. These two places, as much as I enjoyed them, also had downfalls. I'm far from family, a decent shopping experience (ha), and they throw at me some pretty hard times.

But, these two places have forever changed my life and I'm so grateful for that. I am able to be who I am because they shaped me and continue to. It was a true honor to be able to go to one of the greatest colleges in the US, and is a true honor to support my husband as a US Marine. Looking back, life has been extremely rewarding, but it's going to be so much more rewarding in the future.