Howdy folks! My name is Jack Bobo. I am a Raleigh Fellow. Thanks for reading this! Here’s what’s been happening in my life.
WOOF. Life is moving at breakneck speed. I love that metaphor. I really think that I can feel the whiplash in my vertebrae. I try my hardest to look back on the last 6 months slowly so it doesn’t lop my head clean off my shoulders but here is an attempt.
Half a year ago, I was a senior at Texas A&M University, just 12 credits away from earning my undergraduate degree in Horticulture Science. I lived with 6 of my best friends in the whole world. My job was a sweaty 10 minute bike ride away, class 7, and I was approximately 10 pounds lighter. I was dating a beautiful girl I had a crush on from camp the previous summer. I was driving my 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. I was a three and a half hour drive from the house that I grew up in. I was hired on at a tree service company here in Raleigh, bright-eyed and bushy-browed, ready to start my life across the country. Truly, I was aware of the change that was about to come to my life and I couldn’t wait.
Don’t look now… okay, slowly turn your head to join me in facing my present situation. Since the start to my life in Raleigh I have moved 3 times (slept in two different beds and on one couch), my roommates have changed from guys I’ve known my entire life to an extremely generous family of four that I met about a month ago, and I have used my GPS more than any time in my entire existence. I quit my job, was unemployed for about a month, started a new job (much better than the first don’t worry), and gotten in a car wreck (I am mostly in one piece however my sweet FJ is not). My long distance relationship morphed into a short distance one and then to a lifelong commitment (PUT A RING ON IT WHOOP). I have met new friends and family. I have been given the chance to pursue my dream of earning a Master’s degree from the University of Georgia in May (GO DAWGS). I have experienced tragedy from 1000 miles away, loneliness, anxiety, and hurt. I’ve been on top of the world, rejoicing, nay, screaming at the top of my lungs to the sweet sounds and sights of God’s goodness. I am talking full range of emotions here, people. I MISS MY FRIENDS. I MISS MY FAMILY. I feel like a more wholesome Voldemort with little pieces of my soul in places scattered across the country with people and mementos of my past. My heart has a Texas sized hole in it. Truly, this calendar year has been a bucking bronc. But dammit if I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Raleigh Fellows, I am more than excited to experience this next couple months with y’all. Thank you for letting me join in on this lovely, full journey. I can’t wait to see what this holds for each of us!
In Him,
Jack