A Bowl of Mashed Up Corn

As I mentioned in my first post, I had the opportunity to travel to El Salvador two weeks ago. Although keeping a journal has been a task I have aspired to since I was 12, to this day I struggle with being intentional about it. I considered that this trip to Central America with 7 of my nursing classmates may quite possibly be something worth writing about. I happened to be correct in this assumption, and I sit here now--once again inside my favorite coffee shop on Barstow Avenue--and I reread some of the pages. I don't think I can say it better than I did two Sundays ago.

"When we were doing introductions yesterday at our meeting with Sister Peggy at Centro Arta para la Pez, she asked us what our "rebirth" in life was. Honestly, my rebirth was yesterday. When my head and my heart are in the right place, I slow down, and I ask God to show me the path he has paved for my life. Sometimes I get frustrated and impatient, trying to plan my steps on my own. 

But yesterday, yesterday I found God in the wrinkles of a nun from New Jersey; I found Him in the fingers of an 8-year-old boy from Suchitoto, who, after playing guitar for one day a week for 3 months, played for us a song that became an instantaneous incubator for my heart. 

I found him in a bowl of mashed up corn, and I saw Him in the faces of the teenagers who handed me a ball of it, politely taught me how not to mess up the most important phase of a tortilla, and nodded when I asked them, "Esta bien!?" 

I felt Him through the embrace of a woman I barely know, but respect with every ounce of my being, who believes in every human being, is lovingly referred to as "Abuela" by the children she takes in, and believes in a world that is beautiful, even though I know the deaths of her husband and 2 sons will be memories she takes to bed with her every single night. 

I found Him in my friends, who I shared yesterday with, who I'll be forever connected to through these experiences. I found Him everywhere, and I'll never be able to put that feeling onto this piece of paper, but quite honestly, even if I could, I wouldn't. 

So many times we ask but how often do we listen? I'm listening, and I know that this is a place God wants me to return to. These are the people who will change my life even more than I will change theirs. I don't know when I'll be back, or if it will be physically or spiritually, but I do know one thing, that a piece of my heart, a piece of my soul, will remain forever in El Salvador." 

If I Don't Start NOW, When?

Ready, Set, Grow!!

I started this blog just under two years ago, and here I am, sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Eau Claire, writing my first post. Why do people usually start a blog? I'm sure there are a gazillion reasons, but for me, it was because I was beginning my first summer in Alaska, which I thought was pretty darn awesome (hence the title… the sun shines at midnight in the Great North). Alaska was so awesome, in fact, that I couldn't even put my experience into words--hence zero blog posts about it. 

Okay, so Alaska changed my life for many different reasons, and after spending two summers up there, I still find myself sneaking the place into conversation with every stranger I encounter. This is largely due to the fact that everyone who already knows me is exhausted from hearing about trains carrying crazy tourists, moose that walk into peoples' houses, and suns that never set.  

Obsession is a strong word, but when someone throws it out there whenever the topic of Alaska gets brought up and I happen to be involved, I simply have no way of defending myself. You see, there are an infinite number of things I could be obsessed with that would damage my well-being far more than Alaska. My new found love of glaciers, my desire to own 20-something Alaskan huskies so I can stay warm AND run the Iditarod, and my dream of learning what it's like to live in the bush which would REQUIRE me to get my bush pilots license, of course, are nothing compared to wanting to be a python whisperer or the president of the United States (I will never aspire to be either of these). 

So now you may be wondering where I am going with all of this, and quite honestly, I am wondering the exact same thing. You see, when I finally convinced my self to WRITE A BLOG POST, ALREADY!! I had to give up my perfectionist ways. Write it down, post it, then read it later (so at least one person reads it). 

Nonetheless, I have officially written my first ever blog post, I have told the World Wide Web of my slight obsession with this place called Alaska, and in my NEXT post, I'm going share about an experience of a lifetime I had last week, in El Salvador. If it sounds like Alaska changed my life, just wait… 

Thanks for reading!

Amanda

(Photo above: On the summit of Hope Point, Hope, AK)