A Little Perspective...

Overall, things are going really well.  I'm still loving my new job.  GW is a great place to be and there are such good people who I get to interact with everyday.  I'm learning a ton and I can already see some growth in myself as a person and coach....though I still have a long way to go!!!!  

Though things are going well overall, there has been a struggle the last few weeks.  A good friend of mine decided that it was time for us to go our separate ways...I am not exactly sure what I had done to cause her to feel the way she did, and I fear there were some uncontrollable outside factors that also added to the situation and didn't help it at all, both that I am aware of and others that I am unaware of.  However, it always makes you wonder what could've been done differently, how could I have been better, what if I had known that I wasn't being a good friend to this person, could I have changed the outcome?  But at the same time I look back and feel as though I did all I could to try and salvage a friendship that was clearly slipping away and had been on that road for awhile.  Another good friend of mine put things in perspective for me a couple days ago.  I was telling him that I was really struggling with what happened and I wanted to know how I could've possibly avoided this outcome, and his advice was this:

It is something you may never know and overtime the healing will come.  It is important to focus on what is important and in front of us now, and make sure that each day we are living our lives to make the lives of those around us better than they are or were.  

I think that is good advice...and hopefully time will heal.  It is never easy to lose a friend in any circumstance, especially in ones like this.  But I also find myself reflecting back on some really good memories from that friendship and will be forever grateful I had it in my life for a short time.  But it is time to move forward and hope that in time, things will work themselves out.  

THE MALL!!!

A couple weeks ago, our team asked if we could have practice at the National Mall. We told the girls that they had to scope out a decent grassy area and we would go down there. We met on our main campus, walked down to the Mall (passing a few monuments on the way! :) The girls played 6v6 with an amazing view of the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument and the White House, and then they went peddle boating in the Tidal Basin for conditioning! It was a really cool morning! My birthday was the day before this, so I sorta felt like that whole weekend was a celebration. My boss got a couple coaches to join us for a birthday dinner, then we practiced at the Mall the next day, and then I left to go to San Diego to recruit and I spent a minimal amount of time with my family, which was a perk to the trip! I got stuck in Dallas on the way home due to several tornados that had , but I was able to spend the night with my friend Kass, and her husband David...and luckily got a flight out the next day. On Easter morning, I took a recruit to the aiport at 5:45am, and then I stopped by the U.S. Marine Corp Memorial on my way home and took some great pictures of the sunrise over the city! It was just an amazing week!



This past weekend, my oldest brother, Kevin, came into town for a conference for the American Pediatrics Association...or some organization like that. On his last night here, we decided to get some take out from Chipotle and have dinner at the Mall. We parked near the Lincoln Memorial, walked down and ate dinner right in front, with a view of the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Then we walked to the Jefferson Memorial, around the tidal basin to the Washington Monument and WWII Memorial. We drove over to the U.S. Marine Corp memorial...probably my favorite next to the Lincoln and then headed home. It was a really cool way to spend some time with my brother. :) The monuments at night are AMAZING. See pics below!!!!