Patrick, if there is anything I can be certain of at 26 it's that our questions about who we are, our motivations, our end goals, and our destinies will accompany us throughout our lives. And this is something unique to our generation (me at the fringe and you right in the middle of it all)- one privileged with opportunities our parents could never have fathomed at our age and riddled with the burdens that come with too many choices. And not just choices of college or career path or lifestyle, but in how we communicate (in person or online), how we socialize, how we get our information. With all these choices, how do we ever determine what is the "right" one? And does the right one exist?

You're asking questions and I think that's the best thing you can do at this point in your life. No one has the answers, even if it seems like they do. But you can look for things you can know for sure: who you are to your friends, who you are to your family, who you are to God. Who you are when you are alone, in awe of the natural beauty here on Earth. You are talented and you are special. You are curious and you are relational. You are irreplacable to me and Jodi and we are consistently proud of you. You are too young to know what you want to do in the future.

And your writing is beginning to sound like ours. Bravo on the post dude.