2015

Hi friends,

The new year is finally here and I couldn't be more excited....or scared, if I am being honest. The past year was super crazy, filled with huge life changes, a lot of goodbyes, and a lot of hellos. Looking back I realized 2015 was a fairly monumental year for me. I graduated high school, moved out of my home of 18 years, and went to college to fulfill a dream of mine of being a collegiate athlete. I can honestly say that at this time just one short year ago, I thought I had my life figured out...well, at least my life for the next year. Boy, was I wrong.

 I never thought I was the girl who would be sad to leave high school, but on the night of graduation as I sat in my friends garage for one last time with all my friends, I realized that if I had the chance to have another year with my beautiful, insane, and hilarious friends, I absolutely would. I never thought I would get homesick after only a week at college, but I definitely was crying in my room multiple times that first week...which for the record is a very okay thing to do. You will miss home, no matter how cool you think you are. However, those first few tough weeks away, I learned that even though I complained every chance I got throughout high school, I actually did not have the worst time in the world in high school. I had the best parents ever, some truly special friends that I will always keep close to my heart no matter what, and I made some incredible memories that I will never forget. 

This time last year, I never thought that in just one short year, I would no longer be playing the sport I had been playing for the past 10 years. I had never had any form of serious injury going into 2015. However, in June, just a few short weeks before the Junior National Championships for volleyball my wonderful, yet insanely powerful, teammate hit me in the head and I was diagnosed with my first concussion. I was cleared to play just 2 days before the competition started and with one practice under my belt, I flew to New Orleans for my final club tournament. All went well until the second to last match where I got hit once again....if you cannot tell already I have quite horrid reaction time. However, there was no way I was going to miss my last club game so I sucked it up and played and in the moment felt fine. Two days after this tournament I packed up my stuff and headed to Lubbock, Tx to start training for my first collegiate season. After a short two weeks though, I was back to being sidelined due to a back injury. The recovery time for this was a month, but at the time it felt like a year. Slowly, but surely I made my way back. Until August 24 when I got kicked in the face with a ball...I really should just start coming up with much cooler stories to all these injuries. Sadly I was diagnosed with another concussion, this one though took almost 2 months recover from. However, after seeing multiple concussion specialists, I finally got released...for a short 3 weeks until during our warm up for K-state, I was hit yet again. So long story short, with so many concussions in such a short time, my parents, doctors, athletic trainers, coaches, and myself made the decision that it was time for me to close this chapter life. Never in a million years could I have predicted this is how my first semester of college would go. Even if closing a chapter of your life is the right thing to do, that does not mean it is easy to do and leaving volleyball has definitely not been an easy thing to do. 

Even though 2015 had some truly difficult times, there were also amazing and beautiful moments as well. My relationship with my parents, which has never been bad or anything, grew so much. They are truly my best friends, I know I could not have survived the past six months if it weren't for them. My teammates at Texas Tech, became so much more than just teammates, they became family. My new Lubbock family was there for me in ways they probably don't even realize. I cannot thank them enough for dragging me out of bed for movie marathons, for taco tuesdays, for bringing me candy after my doctor's appointments, for letting me crash on their couches when I didn't want to be alone, and for letters slipped under my door. My athletic trainer, Imelda Garcia, who is truly God's gift to the world, had to deal with me more than anyone should ever have to. I cannot thank her enough for everything from going with me to every doctor's appointment and MRI with me, for not letting me run away when that was all I wanted to do, and for just being a shoulder to cry on. The world needs more Imelda's. I also got to take the most amazing trip ever in 2015. I got to go to the city of my dreams, London. It was even more magical than I imagined. I am already planning when I can go back because it was the most perfect week ever. 

I spent too long the past few months throwing a pity party for myself, I only saw the negative of the past year, but now I realize how much positive existed this past year. It was one of the hardest years of my life, but also one of the most important. So for everyone that I crossed paths with this year, thank you. No matter how big or small of a role you played, you impacted my life and I thank you for that. 

I encourage everyone to reflect on this past year and see the positive not the negative. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!

Here are some of my favorite memories of 2015!

Love,

Morgan Renee