In a perfect world, I would have written an extensive, detailed reflection by now. I’ve sat down a variety of times over the last week to try to pull something together, but continuously found myself too emotional, distracted, or overwhelmed. As one could imagine, summing up a year (or 339 days to be exact) is not particularly easy. But I do feel that it would be a disgrace to leave this blog without a closing note, so here I am to give you a few last words.

Predominantly, I would like to thank you for following me along on this journey. I won’t lie, writing the blog has been a challenge. It’s much like writing in a diary— exciting when you start and progressively more daunting to keep up with as weeks and months go by. Still, the accountability I had to you all forced me to process and preserve many of my thoughts and experiences, something I know I will be immensely grateful for as years pass and my time in Israel becomes more distant.

Already as I type this, sitting aboard Jet Blue, flying above Nebraska, Israel is becoming more distant. This feeling breaks my heart in all the right kind of ways. Israel was the shortest, longest, best year of my life. I feel blessed to have had an experience that is so hard to walk away from. I feel equally lucky to have a beautiful place, a loving family and an incredible group of friends to come back to. What more could a human ask for?

I love you each and can’t wait to see you soon.

Cass