This is all to say that I am enjoying this test and learn approach to growing things, and equally enjoyable is celebrating small victories, even as small as a single flower blooming. I’ll close with a mention of writing, which is something I enjoy doing outside by the way, with the scent of jasmine and roses wafting over from the planters.

It's been over twenty years since, as a high schooler, I set foot on the campus where I would eventually attend college. I was attending a summer honors program that accepted 25 high-schoolers across the country and gave them the chance to get some early college credits. I still think of this small farming town fondly, and last week I got the chance to visit.

If you want to know a secret, the reason I love roller coasters is because I actually hate them. Or, to put it another way, they terrify me. And yet. There's something about those final post-launch, I'm-going-to-crap-my-pants seconds that makes the whole ordeal better than if they didn't rattle me at all.