I have been very busy this summer with various commitments to community projects as well as with my job and I have loved every second of it. I have run around like a mad woman all summer but it is so nice to have an answer to the question “So, what are you doing this summer?” I feel productive.
Among the things I dedicated myself to this summer, one was to teach elementary Sunday school at my church and go with them to camp. My best friend and I decided to do this together because we met in our first grade Sunday school at this very church and attended this camp every summer. We have so many memories there and I’m looking forward to Monday morning when I board the bus with my best friend and jet off to camp for another summer. The kids are amazing as well and I can’t wait to watch them experience camp for the first time. We are going with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders so it will be interesting to see how they handle the three days away from home. They are all so precious and I remember when they were all infants, which makes me feel crazy-old.
Because this next week holds so much nostalgia, I have found myself thinking a lot about myself and the ways I have changed since that very first camp trip in the 2nd grade. It’s funny how different I feel from that 7-year-old girl. While I know everyone changes and grows, there are parts of me that disappeared for reasons I still have not come to understand. I have changed into an unrecognizable version of myself whom I love just as much but I still don't really understand how she got here.
I remember as a child, I never understood why adults made things so difficult. Their answers were always so gray. They thought about everything too much. I promised myself I would always try to think the way I did then. I would make things easy. People would finally understand. It would be revolutionary! I was a genius. Thank goodness the world had me.
But then things got hard. People I loved left and died. Situations changed. I learned about sorrow and brokenness and the gray lines that come with humanity. Basically things came crashing down and I learned that my new way of thinking was not the key to humanity’s success. Now I think almost exclusively in gray.
And the thing is, I really like who I am now. I’m excited about my plans and everything I’m doing. I love school. I love my job. I love my commitments. I love my family. Things definitely aren’t perfect but for the first time in a long time I feel like my life is moving to exciting places.
So that’s basically a little update on my life lately. Hopefully I’ll blog some more this summer but I haven’t been great about it so I’m not going to make any promises ;)