Emails, So Longs and GV Magazine

Staying in touch with people makes me keep going.  Staying in touch with people that have made a difference in my life keep me going. I love being able to send update emails to people I know that really care what I am up to, especially since I'm close to  my college career. Mrs. Trella is one that I try to email once or twice a year. Being in her class for 4 years, she made a huge difference in my life. I am so much more outgoing because of being in her speech class. Mrs. Trella has always had this love for Oprah, we watch episodes in her class that dealt with what we were talking about and made connecting to life. I some ways Mrs. Trella is my Oprah. She has life lessons that I have taken with me throughout the years. She is the figure in my life I turn to for school advice, she is an advocate for education.

So when Oprah ended yesterday I felt like I was losing a part of me. But really I was tying Oprah to Mrs. Trella, so I jumped on my email and updated her on what has been happening in Allendale. That email that came May 25th made me smile, since I knew or I thought May 25th was going to be a challenging day.

There was a sense of security when Oprah was on everyday at 4pm. I use to listen to her everyday when I was at home, and now that she is gone I will miss her. It's not that I watched her everyday but just knowing that she was there made my days better.

Along with the email from Mrs. Trella May 25th, I also got the GV Mag article rough draft. I was chosen along with 2 of my other co-workers to be interviewed for the Grand Valley Magazine that will come out in August. I was super excited when I got chosen and was able to share what a tour guide meant to me. The story rough draft definitly came on a much needed pick me up kinda day.

If you haven't read the story yet here is a sneak peak. Even though many of you have seen it. Look for it in your mailboxes in August GV Peeps!

GV Mag article Leah Zuber Rough Draft

Campus tours are given year-round, during the weekdays and on Saturdays. 

“Do students like giving tours when it’s heavily snowing or 98 degrees outside?” said Retberg. “Probably not, but they put a smile on their face, and we appreciate that.”

Like with any job, Hughes said if she’s having a bad day, it turns off the minute she greets someone. “We walk the tour route 10 times a week, but families walk it once, so you have that one chance with them,” she said.

For those who aren’t able to visit the campus, virtual tours will soon be available in the fall. People can visit the Admissions website (www.gvsu.edu/admissions) and see 360-degree views of the Pew Campus, Kirkhof Center, Campus Recreation Center, academic buildings and more.

Lasting impressions

Hughes, Williams and Gray agreed that being a tour guide has helped them improve their communication skills.

“I was extremely shy when I began college, but this job has helped me to open up and become more outgoing,” Hughes said.

That's all you get for now ; )

May 25th ended up being an awesome day! Plus we saw GR LipDub check it out by clicking GR LipDub. I'm in the opening shot with my friends Laura and Michelle look for us in our Grand Valley attire. What an experience. We spent 5 hours downtown filming with thousands of people, then we got to see it premiere on a big screen at Celebration Cinemas. 

A picture to make all these words so much better...

The girls on Rachel's 21st!

Danielle, Jen, Connie, Michelle and I

Oh its a VIP Life I live..lol

Nick, Becca, Michael, Rachel, Brian and I

Til later have an awesome Memorial Weekend!

We lost or I WON

May 25th.

A dreaded day.

A somber day.

The beast won

and we lost

We lost 

and he continues to win.

Yet spin what we lost...

to something I won

I won something more

something less tangible 

but so much more powerful

May 25th 2010 I lost Fr. Jerry

May 25th 2011 I won my faith back

I mean I was working on it for awhile,

but I made sure May 25th 2011 would be a good day

and oh was it.

I may have lost the person I knew all my faith thru

but I know he has been with me every step of the way 

challenging and believing that life will go on

I learned a lot from him..SJV is not the same without 

but his legacy continues. 

It's been almost a year........

I have a lot to update you all on, of course but one very important post I would like to get out there now.

I know many of your have been connected to people. People you love, people you look up to, people who look up to you. You all know my connected to Fr. Jerry of my home parish, as I sat in mass this morning I realized its been close to a year that St. John Vianney lost our founding father. We've made it a year, each individually and as a parish we have made it a year.

It was a bumpy year for me, every once in awhile, during mass I would tear up thinking that this was not fair. I did not attend mass all summer, I attended the Sunday after Fr. passed and one time in July. That one time in July I was watching Fr. Brad and all I could think of was that Fr. Jerry should be standing right there. That's his job, and he's not here.

Its been along time since I have had a rough morning in mass. This morning watching 3 of my 2nd graders make their 1st Communion I was thinking about Father Jerry. He loved the celebration of young people, as he would say. That's when it dawned on me its been close to a year.

This is the man that I knew as a figure of my faith. Life will go on, and I know he is with me each step of the way. May 25th will be one year that God choose to place Father Jerry with him in a less painful environment. After 2 battles of cancer in his legs, we lost the only person I ever knew to represent my Catholic Faith.


Today I am looking towards where I have grown with the death of Father Jerry. St. Luke's has made me a bigger person, looking for the good in what God has created.

It's almost been a year, a year of MCREST, Parish Picnic, Giving Trees, decorating the Christmas Trees, and so much more that he has not been there physically but faithfully he has been with us each step of the way.
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I promise to try to get some more posts going more frequently. I have lots I wanna blog about to remember. Til Later KAH