Choices in light of others.

There are times when you're completely blind-sided by some kind of news. I'm not talking about news locally or nationally or internationally; I'm talking about news personally. Though this isn't quite as personal to me, a friend of mine told me she was pregnant. It's news I'm not usually told by young unmarried women, especially since I've lived in a Christian environment for most of my life. I didn't know quite how to react. The conception was unplanned, yet I was unsure if it was a good surprise or a horrorible inconvenience.

The conversation started out with smoking. She'd been smoking for a long time, but she quit four days ago. Unknowing of the reason, she told me she chose such a diligent task of quitting because of her pregnancy. As we talked about it, she chose to keep the baby and to quit smoking. She'll stay in school as long as she can and then come back after the birth, and I was very proud of her. She was very excited. I couldn't help but be excited for her as well. I gave her my congrats and my best wishes. She said thank you; she smiled.

Later today my class found out that we will all be thrown into one class again for next session. Having close to 30 people in one class brings about long critiques and less personal interaction with the teacher. It's not Myers' fault. We understand this. Brooks' system is very flawed. I was discouraged today more than usual about why I'm here. This choice of staying or leaving this school is becoming much more existent in my life. I want to stay. I see potential here. The blooming of Brooks just needs time, yet that time is resulting in thousands of dollars being spent on something that could be much, much greater. Do I want to be the experimentation of this program, or be someone who is involved in a fully developed and well-oiled program? The latter would be great, but I choose to go on with life and stay here. Students are pissed about Brooks, but we work hard to helping them make it much better than now. This fact satisfies me enough to stay througout.