I took my first trip to Europe last month. I visited a friend in Florence, Italy. We roamed the streets and climbed bell towers and viewed art and drank too much coffee and wine and ate way too much pizza and gelato. It was the time of my life.

Then I came home to Flagstaff. To spring flowers growing out of the moisture from the snow storm that I missed entirely. To 300 students in Cline Library studying religions. To children running through the doors at the Center to show off their piece in the Youth Art Exhibition. To classical guitar in the best listening theater I've ever been in. To the masses wandering the streets of Downtown Flagstaff to find that perfect art-piece on the first Friday of the month.

Then I realized.. this is the time of my life. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and right now, my heart is beating for you, Flagstaff.