One year ago today, I first saw Truman State University. I applied without really knowing anything about the campus (except the new fine arts building would be open when I came) and feeling I would go to Mizzou no matter what. The only reason I can think of jumping into my head to even apply in the first place is because that was the only way to be eligable for scholarships, though why I'd need scholarships to a school I wasn't going to attend didn't occur to me at the time. But I'll expand on that later.

I made it in and was happy, but still not planning on attending when January came around and I received a skinny envelope from the University. On a single sheet of paper they told me I had earned a Truman Leadership Scholarship, which entails a full ride for four years.

This is when I thought to myself, maybe I shouldn't dismiss Truman completely.

Avoiding the huge visit day, my dad made an appointment to visit on a Monday (which must've been a gold day, because I was excited about missing Calculus). We drove up, took a tour of the campus, met a few professors/heads of departments/whatever, and discussed options over Chinese buffet downtown. (The signifigance of my fortune "Try it, you may like it." still isn't lost on me.) I didn't care much about the biology department (which was one major option I was pondering), but I immediately loved what I saw from the theatre people. That probably made all the difference in the long run, but I still wasn't sure when we left campus that night.

In the following weeks, I kept making a mental list between Mizzou and Truman--Mizzou was closer to home, a campus I already [sorta] knew through Caleb and state choir, and had a biology department that would actually support what I was looking for. It also, however, had an anal theatre department and was (sorry, Bro) where Caleb was. Truman's theatre (the main selling point) covered everything in a flow-y, move with it kind of way, along with being zillions of miles from home and anyone else I knew (both a selling and detracting point) in a frigid wasteland. The theatre department alone would've made it all worth it, in my mind, except I wasn't positive that was what I wanted to do.

This is where I go back to before. When I was trying to figure out where to go, I received great advice from Diane, my friend and [now moved on] pastor's wife: "I've never received great signs from God, just the sound of opening doors." That was when I realized maybe all of it--the frantic filling-out of the application, the acceptance and scholarship letters, the theatre department, and maybe even the fortune cookie--were signs that I needed to go to Truman. For some reason, this was God's plan for me and He was trying to make it obvious what I needed to do.

So here I sit, downstairs in the Dobson computer lab, wondering what that something is. Perhaps it's something in the field of English, which I didn't plan on majoring in until I came here and saw how [relatively] easily I could double in it and theatre. Maybe it's to show me what I'm supposed to do in theatre, since I can try all aspects of it without switching courses. Maybe it's just the people I'm connecting with in some way that I'll changed (or changed by) during the next few years.

I just know I'm here, right where I belong.