My Life

In the regular-ness of life, I sometimes forget that extraordinary things are happening all around me.  When people hear about my travel experiences they always ask, "So where are you going next?"  I average about 3 years between trips - 2003 was Austria, 2006 was Turkey and 2009 was Hawaii/Panama/Costa Rica/South Africa - so I guess that means 2012 should be the next trip.  That may or may not happen, but I have to remind myself that life also happened between those trips, as it does right now.  I'm not very good at it, but my last trip really taught me to live in the moment - not to always plan for tomorrow, but to enjoy today.  And that's really difficult for a person like me who wants to be in control and know what's going on, not just now but into the future.  Not knowing the future is such a struggle and yet it seems like it's the way my life is - I don't really stay anywhere, doing the same thing for very long.

As I look back on 2010, I sometimes have to pinch myself.  I probably spoke to about 15 or so groups (churches, schools, etc).  For someone who just wants to be invisible and do what she needs to do without stirring things up, I seem to have defied the odds.  I have conversations I never thought I would have - about prostitution and human trafficking - with people I never thought would ever cross my path.  Without a car until September, I taught a photography class, started selling Jolica, subbed, and sold Threads of Hope and Little Travels at the summer festivals (thanks Mom and Dad for your vehicles!).  After getting a car (somehow I actually got a loan), I have been racing around, trying to truly take advantage of the time (and car) I have been given.

I'm not one of those people who had a clear life plan so that by 25 I'll do this and by 30 I'll do that. . .but I can certainly tell you that I never imagined, never in my wildest dreams, the life I have lived so far.  Don't get me wrong - I have had more struggles than success along the way, but you've got to be willing to take the bad with the good, right?  And I'm not sure what tomorrow holds - I really have no idea where my life is going - but I can tell you the One who holds my life and that's far more important to me.