from bad to good

I was looking for car papers the other day...and still haven't found them. But, in the process, I have found many other things. One thing I was thankful to find was the paperwork from my NOLS trip. It was everything from my receipt to my "what to pack" list to my end-of-the-trip evaluation. I was dreading looking inside when I saw the folder.
I have bad memories of the last day of that trip because of the evaluation with one of the instructors. We'd all decided (everyone taking the class) that none of us were there for actual school credits, so we didn't keep close track of grade-style evaluation. There were two instructors in the class and I felt like the one I clicked with did not do my evaluation, so that was a little bit of a bummer. But, I went on my longest climb with him, so I now accept that was more reasonable. He made a comment about how I was not a positive talker, that I was always picking on one guy. That one guy was in my cook group (3 groups of 3) and we were good friends. He was the best climber on the trip and he and I picked back and forth. It was great and we both dished it out. I was so discouraged by that comment and by the fact it came from him. I was also upset that it was the end of the trip and I didn't realize that then. From the end of this trip and then end of our honeymoon, I have since come to know how upset I can become just because it's the end. It alters my mood so much that I couldn't even explain it.
So anyway, back to the NOLS eval. I looked back over it and saw that it was really positive. I was so thankful because I don't remember it that way. When I think of that trip, I don't get the best feellings and now I'm able to start the shift to loving the trip the way I did when we were there. It was an amazing trip with some awesome people. I learned lots and had some great experiences. It was the most outdoor, real-rock climbing I've ever done at once and maybe more than I've done all together. It was great!