Irie

This summer has officially launched with a UM graduation, mother-daughter cruise to the Grand Caymans and Jamaica, and a beautiful wedding.

It’s hard to believe that summer has only just begun, because I feel like my life has changed all over again already.  Seeing one of the most important people in my life finish her first four years of college made me realize how fast life goes by, and that not too long from now I will be in the same position.  So many of the great friends I have made this year are moving on with their lives as graduates, a scary and exciting adventure.  I can’t believe that adventure is not too far out of my grasp.

Our vacation wasn’t quite what I thought it would be.  Beyond a vacation, it was a life-changing experience.  Although, yes, I did indulge myself in the (almost) obligatory participation in cruise karaoke, that was far from the highlight of our journey.  Spending a day on two islands that were so different from each other yet worlds apart from life as I have known it impacted me more than I expected.  Spending a day in the life of these vastly different cultures transformed a part of me into some one I didn’t know existed.  Not long ago I would never have seen myself riding on the back of a scooter (the devil bike) through the forgotten parts of the Grand Caymans looking for a (relatively) deserted beach free of tourists.  I couldn’t have known that I would ride horseback through Jamaican countryside and bareback through Saint Ann’s Bay and get into a water fight with a stranger who became an unforgettable friend.  And who could expect getting inspired by the advice of a jewelry maker in a Jamaican market who will never know how much he has influenced me.

But most of all, a cabin steward on our ship who was brought to tears by the mention of his wife and children in the Philippines  who he only gets to see once every 6-8 months.  The same man who always greeted my mom and I with a huge smile and told us about our relatives who live on a certain group of islands called Bulacan, who gave us his address to keep in touch and invited us to visit him if we ever found ourselves in the Philippines, that unknown country that runs deep in our blood.

This weekend was highlighted by a wedding filled with great friends and new friends, dancing, Peruvian food, and a whole lot of goofing off, with that bittersweet knowledge that we will not return to those moments in the fall, with so many graduates embarking on a whole new adventure.

Lives have changed these first couple weeks of summer.  Lives bonded together in marriage, lives (supposedly) moving ahead toward their adult lives, friendships growing and maturing, becoming stronger with every new day, and perhaps newer as well.

So here’s to you summer: may you be filled with memories like those that have already been documented in facebook photo albums, tagged and commented on.  And may you bring us all new surprises daily, blessed and beautiful.

IRIE.

Eminem said it all

So, tonight, as I was beginning to embark on the tedious task of unpacking my clothes that I had only packed up a few days ago prior to moving out of the beloved Brumbs, I began to clean out my closet.  I began with the usual, packing up clothes to be donated, you know, those things that you swear you’re going to wear again someday, but then you think about it, and realize you really really won’t.  Then, came the deep cleaning.  Oh yes, that box of notes passed between class periods spanning back to the 8th grade.  Cleaning has always been a cathartic task for me, but tonight’s was especially so.  Reading through those notes, 8th grade hopes of canceled soccer practices, 10th grade girly dramas, I learned a very important lesson.

Yes, I was once a different person, someone whose words hardly seem recognizable to me when reading them 5 years later, but at the same time, I am the same.  That person I was back then has shaped me into the person I am today.  I have learned to be less critical of myself, to take life a little less seriously.  Everything back in those days was such a big deal, and over the years, I’ve learned that you just have to go with the flow, and trust God to send you in the right direction.

God has definitely sent me in the right direction, and reading those words I have realized that all the criss-crossed paths I have walked on to get where I am today were there for a reason.  The realization of where God has placed me has given me the courage to do what I did tonight:  I threw away those conversations, those dramas, those unnecessary worries.  Yes, I will keep them deep down inside of me to remind me of what has passed and what may be to come, but for now, they’re sitting in a bag, waiting patiently for trash day.

Home

Freshman year has been amazing, and upon my return to Marietta, it has just hit me how much I’m going to miss Athens this summer.  I used to count down the days until I went home, but now, I think the meaning of home has changed.  I have my home with my mom where most days we act more like sisters than mother and daughter.  I have my home with my best friend, my strength, my other half, my sister.

But home is now someplace else as well.

Home is Fair Hope, 4South in Brumby, a hall with the craziest girls on earth, a hall filled with wonderful memories.  Home is that tiny little room I shared with someone just as awkward as I am, someone who I will never forget having dance parties with.

Home is a duplex, one side men, one side women.  No, we don’t actually live there, but home is where the heart is, and the people who do live there?  Well, they’ve got a whole lotta heart.

Next year, home will be someplace else.  Maybe not a physical location, because the meaning of home reaches far beyond a house, but maybe, just maybe, it will be with 2 dancers, 1 Canadian, 1 Gilmore Girl, and one Quat.  Home is gonna be stacked.

Inspired

I’ve been writing a lot lately, and often wondering why. We talked about it in my comp lit class the other week, the writer’s intentions that is, and I’ve been thinking about what my intentions are. If I’m writing all these things down, but nobody reads them, why do I do it? Is it because I’m selfish? Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe, just maybe, I should try sharing my thoughts.

This whole blog idea always seemed kind of weird to me…a sort of xanga-like experience. Xanga, by the way, was a complete documentation of my key awkward years, and who wants to re-visit those, right? Moving on.

This post goes out to you L. Web, my inspiration for blogging.  Why not share with others what has been going on in my life?  If I’m excited about it, I want other people to be too!  Right now is such an exciting time for all of us, ending the year, the anticipation of summer.  But it’s also a little bittersweet.

I’ve made so many wonderful friends this year, and grown in so many ways that I could never have imagined back in August.  The bittersweet part is not seeing them on a daily basis over the summer.  It’s going to be really hard, but I know deep down in my heart (some days deeper than others) that God’s plans for me this summer are important, that (finally) finding a job at home was a sign that I am meant to be there.  I’ll miss Athens more than I ever expected I would, and no doubt will put up a Pineview countdown in my room at home, but I know that’s where I’m supposed to be: home.

To all of you who I won’t see these next few months: I love you.  Yes you.  The friendships I have made this year are the ones that I know will last forever.  You know who you are.  And know this: I will be counting down the days until I get to see you all again, and praying for your respective summer missions.  The Lord has put you where you belong, and He will show you what you are meant to do there.