Things I Write

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Dilapidated yet Delightful December

December definitely has to be one of the most challenging months I had this year. The first 18 days were spent in Missouri (definitely not my favorite of the 50 states) but the rest was spent with dozens of people I hadn’t seen in months and missed terribly. As I looked through my journal for the first half of December, I found the sentence “I am unhappy” written more times than I hope to ever see or feel again. Time passed slower than it ever has and all I wanted was to move forward, past the state of sadness, boredom, and Missouri/misery I was in. My normal distractions for loneliness did not prove to be as consuming in December as they were in November. Despite the seeming hopelessness that the first half of December held…wonderful, beautiful things happened like they always do. And it was those things that got me through our last weeks in “purgatory”.

Playing Around

I have found in the past many months that when my thoughts get the best of me, when I can’t help but feel lonely, and when I feel uncharacteristically hopeless…I need to simply play. I need to let myself be a child again and let all my worries fade away with the simple, joyful act of laughing.

Despite Saint Robert, Missouri being Bayou 6’s least favorite location over the past 4 months…we did find two peaceful locations together. One was the park located perfectly between our hotel and office space. At this park, we were able to fully immerse in our youth. We made a relay race on the playground, climbed and hopped all over the mini-skate park, jumped off swings, took tons of pictures, played “Heads Up”, and laughed uncontrollable amounts.

The second location was the Pulaski County Historic Courthouse. This was the only place we were able to perform Independent Service Projects during our time in Missouri. It was our job to paint the discolored damaged walls from the flooding that occurred just a few months before. I know a large reason I felt so peaceful there was because it was a beautiful display of the teamwork and love that has flourished within Bayou 6. We volunteered two separate times and successfully painted the entire high-ceilinged and historically significant space.

I came to the unfortunate discovery (even though I tried my best to fight it) that I’m not a winter person. I’m a California girl born and raised…and that became obvious to me when I started getting abnormally pouty when I couldn’t go outside as much as I wanted without losing feeling in my fingers. My team and I did have a good time playing in the snow, though, on the first day…











Getting Excited for Next SPIKE…

As a recent business marking graduate, I decided that I should gather data from my team, analyze it, and create improvements for the next two SPIKEs. As forced as this sounds, it was the best decision I could have made. My team’s answers got me super amped for this upcoming SPIKE (where ever that may be—stay tuned) and got my brain churning with ideas for an even better experience for Bayou 6 in 2014.

Back to Mississippi

The four days I spent in Mississippi in December were my sweetest and most precious days this month. Upon arriving, I did everything in extremes. Any time I was alone, I was calm…but any time I reunited with a Team Leader or staff member, I lost it. I sprinted more my first day in Mississippi than my entire High School track career combined (hyperbole). I have never been exhausted for such a wonderful reason in my life. Every time I saw someone I loved, I felt like a missing piece of my heart was replenished.

Being in Mississippi again resulted in a lot of reflection and reminiscing. The best realization I had? Bayou 6 is a brand new team. After deep cleaning our van, one of my Corps Members asked me “Do you remember the last time we had to deep clean the van?” I said I had forgotten. The last time Bayou 6 had to clean the van, there was no sense of teamwork, camaraderie, and everyone despised having to be with one another. This time? Imagine the picture to the right coupled with Lady Gaga’s CD blasting in the background. We built this. We became a family. My heart leaps at this discovery.

California Love

Well shoot, to go into my time at home with great detail would likely bore the hell out of most of you. Because of that, I will just do a quick recap. I saw about a bajillion people I love, soaked up the California sun every single day, played the piano for hours on end, read (and am still reading) On the Road by Jack Kerouac, watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, sang Wicked tunes obnoxiously at the top of my lungs, received a rejuvenating relaxation massage, visited my beautiful Pacific, played racquetball with my brother, and got my computer fixed—hallelujah! My time here was refreshing just as I hoped it would be. It’s terrifying how easy it is to get comfortable NOT working though…



The Simple Serendipities

I guess this month's serendipities are mostly about being excited for my future, proud of myself, and ecstatic that I have such incredible people in my life. These are simple facts that are truly impossible to ignore. 

Being reminded I’m fearless: On Christmas day, my grandfather reminded me of one very important thing. When I was 11 years old, I went to Australia and New Zealand with the People to People Student Ambassador program. After stumbling over my response to the question “What are you going to do after AmeriCorps?” my grandpa said this: “You’ve been incredible since you were eleven years old. You weren’t too scared to go to Australia when you were eleven…so you won’t be too scared to do anything in your 20s.” I cannot imagine a better time for that sentence to have graced my ears. Thanks Grandpa.

I understand this reference: I also know that this dude's name is Aaron Rodgers, he plays for the Packers and he just came back from a collar bone injury. BOOYAH. 


Being an Editor: As you all can tell…I love love love writing. And guess what? I love editing too. My friend Dave has this kick-ass travel blog-- The Quest for Awesome-- and has been writing guest posts for some other travel blogs, too. He has asked me to help him edit a couple posts. It’s been awesome to do something I love for someone I care so deeply about. Below are the links to his published articles. Proud of you, Dave.

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