Cocoa-Soaked Realizations

I've never quite understood that phrase, Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get. If I have a box of chocolates, I am pretty sure that inside the box, there will be an assortment of chocolates. And I'll eat the chocolates. And they'll taste good. Simply put, I know what I'm gonna get.

The revised version of that Gumpian motto, then, seems to apply particularly well to this blog. I open it up, to be confronted with one of an assortment of fixed subjects. "An aspect of my professional responsibilities." (Mmm... milk chocolate.) "A new experience in a new city." (White chocolate.) "A conversation with my mentor." (That chocolate with the little pieces of almonds in it.)

So perhaps none of these posts shimmer with any resonance beyond the simple satisfaction of munching on a piece of chocolate. But at the end of a box of chocolates, I usually feel pretty good. And full. Full, and good. I think we'll all feel this way when this iteration of the fellowship blog comes to an end. We'll scroll past the group pic, give that text a scan and, if only briefly, we'll get consumed by the commonality and yet difference of the tapestry of the fellowship experience - say, the character education builders in DC, say, the social explorations of New York - but then, say, our struggles with acronyms and public transit, say, our initial confusions and gradual moves towards mastery, and we'll think to ourselves, What a Wonderful World -- You know, I probably shouldn't have eaten the whole box at once, but, ultimately, it was a beneficial decision...