apparently the whole senior photo/graduation announcement thing is a very american tradition. my parents had never heard of it until they moved here and they just never jumped on board with it. none of us kids have ever done it before for high school or college and i've decided to change that. i think it's a fun idea to document this time of your life as it's the end of one big chapter and the beginning of another. so nicolaus shot some photos of me over the weekend (and apparently photo shoots by yourself can be a pretty awkward/squinty eyed/lopsided smile ordeal...haha but it was nice to get outside and breathe some fresh air!) and i designed a graduation announcement card, and now i just need to go get them all printed and sent off.
this whole process got me thinking about traditions and whatnot. a lot of the time i've felt like i don't have roots in any particular place or am overly attached to a lot of family traditions. i think it's because my immediate family left all our relatives behind in south africa when i was at such a young age. i never had family reunions or sunday dinners at grandma's or anything of that sort. which always makes me a bit sad because i do love my relatives and cherish the times i have spent with them. but i understand why my parents moved us away and am so grateful for all the opportunites it's afforded me over here in utah. 
utah will always have a special place in my heart because it's this beautiful place where i grew up and have a lot of fond memories. but it's not like we have a ton of family here or we go generations back as pure-blood utahns. a lot of the time i feel really out of place in the culture here and can't wait to get out. but that's the beauty of not feeling rooted here or stuck in certain traditions...nicolaus and i have a whole lot of uncertain options in our future. we have an unmapped life ahead of us where we can ditch old traditions and adapt new ones to our liking. there are good things to come and i love the anticipation of being open to all sorts of possibilities.