goodbye, may. hello, june

Oh dear, it's nearly June. One month of my summer has nearly passed, and I don't have much to show for it. A nice tan-line, a vintage dress, and one 1000-piece puzzle. I have enjoyed the time to just read (I finished Harry Potter books 5 and 6, Life of Pi, and have picked at Mere Christianity, and various Christian lit). But my wandering spirit is screaming to go discover some new place and challenge myself socially.


This past year has been filled with such exciting adventures: hanging out with boarding school students in Chile, swimming with a river-shrimper in Peru, getting hit-on by a 72-year old Indian Chief in Cherokee, N.C. (ha!), ending my teenage years with a bang on a bus in Panama, when the clock struck midnight...sigh. I guess those were the cross-cultural adventures, although I'm forgetting all over the wonderful hidden secrets of UNC, of solidifying meaningful relationships with unsuspecting folks, of discovering rope-swing trees and magical places in the woods, of delving deeper into photojournalism and, concomitantly, the larger Chapel Hill/Triangle community. I suppose this is me in hindsight, romanticizing the past year's experiences. Oh, but I am so thankful for them!


Ben told me in one of our last talks of the semester that he hoped I had a boring year, for a change. (Based on current circumstances, I wonder if he is a prophet?) (I am kidding). I do see the merit of suddenly having no obligations...it's such a hard thing for me, since I sort of thrive on the External. But it's pushing me to pray more and working out my salvation in practical terms. I'm not doing too well at loving my family and keeping myself immersed in community, but that pushes me to rely on God's grace all the more. I guess I have all sorts of time to experience my own stench and waywardness...a state of sin and misery that can easily go unnoticed when I'm doing all sorts of things at school. (Not that doing things is bad...we're called to be part of community and to love others). I guess this is what Ben was thinking of when we had that discussion about my immediate future/decision-making.

Well, I will be very excited to start school in the fall...UNITAS is going to be really challenging but quite excitng, I hope. It will bring those international travles right to my living space. I didn't want to do it for awhile after I got accepted, but now I'm warming up drastically to the program. Yay for theme housing. Yay for diversity.