*Runze's POV*
By the time we finish our coffee, the conversation has mostly drifted away from design work and into logistics.
The community center proposal is basically done.
After weeks of revisions, consultant meetings, structural reviews, and enough last-minute adjustments to make me question my career choices several times, there isn't much left to change on paper. The next major step will be visiting the actual site with the broader team and reviewing everything in person before the project officially moves forward.
It still feels a little unreal.
A few months ago, I'd been struggling just to convince people to take me seriously.
Now I am one of the lead architects on a project that is actually going to be built.
Not a competition submission or a concept, not a pretty rendering that will sit forgotten in a portfolio.
A real building, a real commission, something that will exist long after I am gone.
The thought settles warmly somewhere in my chest.
