Mischief Managed - 8/17

Here we are; over 50,000 words, around 500 pictures, and almost a year later, this blog is coming to a close.  Tomorrow marks my final day of service with the Emergency Response Team here in St. Louis and it is very bittersweet.  If there is one thing that I will not miss it is the scheduling.  Not knowing where you are going until the night before or how many hours you will be working each day is very taxing.  We needed to serve 1700 hours according to our contract—I served more than 2200 and I didn’t even go on a disaster where one expects to work long hours.

But that is just a minor thing, one that is eclipsed by the awesomeness of the year as a whole.  The views, our crew, the people we met, I feel like I just crammed a lifetime into our term of service.  I am healthier, stronger (debatably), and more confident than I have ever been and for that I extend my thanks to my fellow AmeriCorps members.  This year has not been easy and there was a time or two that I doubted my ability to succeed in the rigors of this program, but you all kept me going when times were tough with a healthy dose of encouragement and light heartedness.  To my friends and family back home, thank you for all of your support.  AmeriCorps St. Louis’s unpredictability and limited time off made it nigh impossible to get to see many of you and for the few trips I managed I was spent to the point that all I wanted to do was sleep.  Will have to make up for lost time and catch up soon! 

Anyways, thank you all for following along my journey.  As will always be the case, feel free to ask me about my time in AmeriCorps, the places I’ve been, anything.  I love answering questions be it here or elsewhere.  Until we meet again friends!