Wednesday, May 23, 2018

#SeeYouWhenISeeYou


I’m looking at my hotel room’s wall.

When you get the kind of deal that I did, the walls are usually devoid of art. These ones are. And an artless wall is just fine with me, because I’m 2 kilometers from the airport, and in less than 12 hours I’ll be flying out of Thailand – no time for hotel art.

 When I bought these tickets back in June of last year I added on 6 days at the end of my internship. The thought was that maybe I would want to travel a bit before leaving the country. Also, there was a chance I would be leaving Thailand and not planning a return trip.

I was wrong on both accounts. Oh well, this is why my fortune-telling gig right after college never took off. When last Friday came around I was ready to be home –where I will have a hard time breathing with Bernadette, Belle, and Phil’s fur clogging up my sinuses. And, I am planning on returning to Thailand…

You know those people who always say, “It changed my life!” in regards to everything (including my famous green beans (which are good, but not that good))? I’m going to borrow a line from them.

This time changed my life.

Being in Thailand was so good. Being at Cornerstone, with some of the best people ever, has been incredible. Counseling, nearly full-time, is difficult - and I love it. Working with cross-cultural workers in a counseling environment is emotionally draining – in the best way possible. But, most of all, counseling children? I have come alive.

I don’t know, this might sound pompous, naïve, or misguided, but I feel deep in my bones, that God wired me to be a counselor. And even deeper, I believe life has happened how it’s happened to equip me to sit with children. So, I can’t wait to get back to it.

If I had imagined my best life for myself, I couldn’t have imagined as fulfilling of a life as the one I believe I am entering into. I had dreams. Oh, I had dreams! But, they weren’t this good. And sometimes, I had no dreams at all - other than to survive the workday, the workweek, and the worklife. But in all of those, I couldn’t have imagined this.

So, thank you. Seriously. Thank you. If you’re reading this that means that in some way you were a part of all of it. So, to nearly everyone in my world: I’ll see you when I see you, and hopefully I see you soon.