integration three And She Was Love(d) There were many words to describe her—kind, caring, thoughtful. Maybe throw in words like unpredictable or headstrong in there sometimes. But above all, she was love - the type that made you love yourself and life. The type of love that was pure and forgiving. The type of love that saw you for who you were and made you feel comfortable within yourself. But how, you ask, could you possibly describe this love? First of all, she knew when to slow down and appreciate the finer things in life. Even when her life became chaotic, she never lost sight of what was important. She agreed with Pico Iyer's writings, "To me, the point of sitting still is that it helps you see through the very idea of pushing forward; indeed, it strips you of yourself, as of a coat of armor, by leading you into a place where you're defined by something larger." ("Why we need to slow down our lives" by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). She found strength in her solitude which helped her understand herself better. Inside, she found someone who cared for others deeply and tried to welcome the world with an open heart and mind - something she hoped to do for the rest of her life. And what is love without hope? She always tried to look towards the future with optimism. Even when cynicism was favored, she did her best to trust others and remain hopeful. She lived for every day, one step closer to making her dreams a reality. It was all an attempt to give her best shot at the one life she had. And even when she knew that her time would come, she had the same musings like Fr. Hesburgh, "I'm thinking about eternity. I'm looking forward to the next stage of my life" ("Hesburgh by Jerry Barca and Christine O'Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). She wanted to lead a meaningful life, so she could embrace it with no regrets and know she had lived when her time came. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143779 https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 But what drove her to live her life so wildly and passionately? What encouraged her to live her days out, not caring about what others thought? To defy the rules and barriers she was told to obey? The answer to her desperate need to live was her self-awareness of death. She never feared death but instead saw it as a companion to life. If one knew that there was no death, there would be no reason to live. Just as Sister Alethia believed, she thought, "Remembering death keeps us awake, focused, and ready for whatever might happen — both the excruciatingly difficult and the breathtakingly beautiful." ("Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die" by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week Three). And with death keeping a watchful eye on the clock, she spent her time making every second meaningful. Taking that extra second to hold the door open for someone, to squeeze in a compliment, or to hold her temper in difficult situations. And for everything she was, for every laugh, every concerning gaze, and every sigh of relief - there was an experience behind it. She was love - a product of everyone who had loved and had yet to love her. She was a product of her life's journey that came with every struggle, defeat, and accomplishment. She did not realize it until later in life, but "Every experience shapes you in some way, whether you realize it at the time or not!" ("Navigating Your Career Journey" by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development) - Moreau FYE Week Four). Only in her second semester of college did she realize how many people she had met impacted her college journey. And the multitude of experiences that had allowed her to grow into a more robust and better person. She realized that she was not the same person who had entered college over six months ago…so she embraced it and all the new experiences to come. But what did others think of her? Indeed, you cannot face the journey alone, and many individuals played a role in helping her discern her life. When she asked others for aid in https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ discerning her life, they all had plenty of things to say ("Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity" by Moreau FYE Week Five). Her best friend of fourteen years described her as hardworking and dependable, someone who could be trusted to have your back and confide in. Of course, her mom said she was an amazing daughter, but one who was persistent and not deterred by failure. What did the boyfriend have to say? She would never be satisfied or fulfilled in life until she achieved her goals. She was touched by what her close friends and family had to say about her. It felt good to hear that she was loved and her efforts were appreciated. And so, she tried her best to make a meaningful impact on many others. She tried to make a lasting impact on new friends she met around campus - in class, at school events, even in the dining hall. Her hope was that if anyone agreed on something, it was that she was an amazing person to be friends with. Now you all may ask, for someone to be so kind, they must not have experienced the grief and horror of the "real world," right? Well, she was no stranger to the obstacles of living a life well-lived. All she knew was that it was possible to overcome any obstacle that stood in her way. She had held on for so long, and it would be a shame to give up now. She was not someone to give up when things got difficult; it was all she could do to "Just focus on what we can do for others or what we can do already instead of what we cannot do and what we do not have yet." "5 Minutes" by Aria Swarr - Moreau FYE Week Six). She knew that everything would eventually pass, all the good days and all the bad days. And when she was faced with new challenges, she knew they too would pass - and she would continue living. Wow, that was a lot. So how exactly do you describe this girl? Was she the girl who talked to the person sitting alone in a room? The girl who noticed when the slightest thing was off and invited a friend to talk? Or was she the girl that anyone could always turn to? We already https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143863 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143863 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143880 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143880 know the answer to all of these questions, but do you want to know who she really is? The purest answer is this: she was the girl who understood that "One cannot love, unless it is at their own expense." ("Why the only future worth building includes everyone" by His Holiness Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week Seven). She wanted others to know they were loved because she knew how it felt not to be. She spoke to the person sitting alone because she remembered what it was like to be that person sitting alone. It was easy to notice when her friends seemed off because no one saw it in her, and she once had no one to turn to. For the greater amount of her life, she felt like her life was meaningless. But she fought. She fought the long battle, the brutal battle. And she stood on the winning side. She had believed for so long that her life was not worth living, but at one moment, she decided it was worth living. And by anything, if not everything, would she live a life well-lived. Ultimately you become whoever would have saved you when no one did. Her whole life, she so desperately needed and longed for love…and so she became it. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41060/modules/items/143910