Head Girl-ship

The other day I was running around town (literally running) and it was funny to me how many smells I ‘ran’ through. As I was running by the side of campus I passed a freshman guy and girl and ran through the cloud of cologne/perfume that made me open and close my eyes again because it was so strong. I was running by a house on College Avenue that was obviously doing laundry because the smell made me think of home: laundry detergent plus hot air, with a hint of a bounce sheet mixed in their somewhere. Running back on College Avenue the other way was the smell of Mario’s. It was funny to me how long it lingered. The best smell, though, by far, was the trees. And there’s only certain places you can truly smell them. True smell=with the smell of soil and grass mixed in. Walking down into the cemetery or the road by the hospital is good for that. You have to be around enough trees and away from everything else for the smell to envelope you….and it’s good when it does.

It’s safe to say that I love my job. Being the SRC is pretty great. Aside from doing the normal things like checking in students and planning for programs, I get to do things like hang out with Kelcey and Pedro. What other students get that opportunity? I was thinking today that it’s great that I’m the little person on Senior Staff and then I turn around and I’m the leader of my Upper Division RC’s. It’s really a perfect place to be in: being shown how to lead and then leading in my own area of campus. Not to mention the fact that my UD staff is amazing. All in all, things are starting to take shape in the area of Rez life on the North end of campus.

Classes start on Wednesday. Oh required reading, how I love thee. No, but seriously, think about it: What do you love? Basketball? Cooking? Skydiving? What if you were required to do it for class all of the time? Yeah, that’s how I feel about reading. World Religions and Foundations of Christian Doctrine here I come!

Walkabout the Third

Don’t expect. That seemed to be the theme for most of Walkabout. The umbrella under which we voiced prayers every morning for our hikes, listened to people tell their stories, and generally got to know people that we wouldn’t have known in everyday life at GC. We prayed. “Little” prayers-like ‘God protect us.’ We trusted. We didn’t expect (maybe the term ‘striving’ for a specific answer or a specific way for God to do something would fit better here). And we were incredibly blessed.

Community. I know that I function better inside of community. Somehow the combination of lots of trees, sleeping outside, cooking meals together, pumping water, and listening makes for a recipe of ‘insta-community.’ And my insta-community on the mountain this year was pretty spectacular: Neil, Catherine, Phu, Brett, Carrie, Rod.

This year marked the end of actually going on Walkabout for me. I was a leader this year, which not only meant that I was looked to as an authority on bear bags and blisters, but I was expected to actually facilitate that community that happened on the mountain. Translation: I’m beginning to learn what it means to be an agent of God in leadership. Emphasis on beginning.

Every night we were by a stream. Beautiful, clear water, cascading mossy rock streams. I stood out on the rocks and tried to memorize what they all looked like because I knew I would be back in my apartment, trying to put the pieces together in my mind of what each place looked like on Walkabout. It was so different from my last two years: being up high on the Appalachian Trail. Now included in my Walkabout memories, mixed in with the high points of looking around at the surrounding green mountains that begin to get fuzzy from fog or distance as my eyes and memory strain to remember, are the thoughts of the rushing waters and the large trees overhead that I viewed from the middle of the streams. Creation is restorative.

Included in that restoration process were the words of my team and the relaxation that comes from not having cell phones and loosing track of time to the point of trying to remember what day it is. It was perfect that after this crazy time lapse happened, my team put together a skit for the celebration at Cosby campground that consisted of them playing Walkabout equipment ala Stomp! The definition of our team: different personalities coming together to create one crazy sound…..without words. Perfect.
Now I’m back at GC. Back to clear cut days with cell phones and dorm keys, but I’m trying to go without expectation for as long as possible. I just want to get up in the morning, pray, and remember that this is the day the Lord has made and I do, indeed, want to rejoice in the way that He has constructed it. And at the end of it, I want to look back and thank Him for all that He did…..just in one day. Remembering to function in community.

Tall and Skinny

Sunset walks sans the sunset (due to the tree line virtually circling the town) leads to noticing different things in this bell ringing, mom and pop town. The best part of the walk is the block of houses directly north of Dairy Queen. Who decided to put all of the prettiest houses on one block? Well, prettiest in my opinion. Tall tall skinny houses with three floors, lots of rooms, turrets, lilac gardens. The block sits up high from the sidewalk, the houses’ front yards ending in a concrete wall that holds the block sort of like the wrapper on a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. The best part about this are the steps cut into the concrete wall, some turning up to the house that sits high above the street. I want to explore these houses-to see the tall, skinny, cramped rooms, the steep stair cases, the oldness. I want to climb the stairs and notice the doors and be inside the houses that make me feel the most like I am in Greenville.