Lucky Girl

If we could've seen how our lives would be,

we wouldn't have believed it - how lucky we are.

All of us.*

I talked to my friend Anna today for an hour and 30 minutes. Our conversation was non-stop, give and take, the kind where you move fluidly from topic to topic without ever realizing you are talking about something different. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Connections. They take my breath away. When Anna and I made the decision (separately) to go to the same college almost exactly five years ago I never would have predicted where our lives would go. How cool is that?

We both wanted to be teachers - so we did the teacher education program thing. We took some classes together, completed our student teaching, and became certified teachers. We moved out of our respective apartments in La Crosse, Wisconsin, left our college days behind, and said goodbye to a town that gave us incredible, life-changing memories. Now I am teaching 8th grade math in Cali, Colombia and she accepted a job for next year in Thermopolis, Wyoming.

How did we get to this point? Talking to her today reminded me of how incredibly lucky I am to have the relationships I do with people who challenge me, who build me up, who make me laugh, who make me feel alive. We meet new people everyday, we build friendships, we form relationships, and we turn new friends into old friends. We learn together, we live our lives together, we laugh together and in the process....we grow up. Our lives change more and more everyday and sooner or later, we change with them.

Throughout it all? The love we have for each other remains the same. As we laughed together thinking back on college memories, I thought to myself - why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the past?

Because it made us who we are today.

Everything that happened, it happened for a reason.

That's how we got to this point.

In exactly one month my plane will touch down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and nine hours after that I will be bouncing out of my seat with excitement as I board my 6 am flight with final destination MINNESOTA. Eeeeeek! I literally cannot think about going home without squealing out loud. Eleven months is a long time and I cannot wait to reclaim that giant piece of my heart that I left the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I plan to spend a whirlwind thirty-five days rediscovering the stunning people I am so lucky to call my friends and family during the hot, humid days and breezy, cools nights of a Minnesota summer.

See you there!!

*Quote credits: Brooke Davis, One Tree Hill. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. :)

p.s. I have been having trouble blogging lately - call it Spring Fever, call it a busy schedule or call it lack of motivation. Whatever the reason was, all inspiration for the return is thanks to a beautiful friend - thanks Anna.

Happy Birthday Maria!

"We might be laughing a bit too loud, oh but that never hurt no one."

Happy Birthday Maria (aka Roly Poly)!

When I was thirteen years old I went to Camp Sonlight, AKA church summer camp, for a week in June. At this camp I made some serious lifelong friends, and traveled back for a few years after as a counselor. While times change, people change and you change in response, Maria and Anna have been constants in my life over the last ten years. At times our lives have felt creepily parallel and similar, and we really went through many of life's "firsts" together.

From the time Maria jumped up into my top bunk and scared the pants off me coming back from the camp bathroom to the fabulous going away party she held for me before moving to Colombia, she has kept me laughing out loud at her quirky, fun-loving, hysterical attitude. Almost all of my funniest stories from high school involve Maria in some way or another.

Today she turns 23, so Maria Rose - as you embark on your 23rd year of life, I hope you continue to enrich the world around you with your humor, your sassy spark, and your overall love for what life has to offer you.

All my love,

Just one more comment...I promise.

"Stop fretting.
Enjoy the best time there's ever been to be a Twins fan."
-Patrick Reusse
This makes it official: Best time ever to be a Twins fan

In Search of My Word

As I said in my last post, I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her book gave me a lot of "food for thought", but the most intriguing part for me was her search for her word.

Let me explain...

Elizabeth is talking to her Italian friend, Giulio, about how Roman woman are always dressed up and fancy, while she herself is not. He responds with, "Maybe you and Rome just have different words." He goes on to explain that, "If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there."

They go on to discuss the words of many cities, including Rome (sex), the Vatican (power), New York City (achieve), Los Angeles (succeed), Stockholm (conform), Naples (fight), before Giulio asks the ultimate question to Liz. "What's your word?"

She doesn't really figure it out until later in the book, so I will leave that for you to discover...however, I will say that this search for a personal word has inspired me to think of what my word might be.

What is my personal word? And does everyone just have one word for a lifetime? Or does your word change overtime? Is my word what I truly want it to be? Am I proud of the word that describes me?

I wish I could end this post with some sort of fabulous insight into how I discovered my word, but I really don't think I have. For awhile, I thought my word could be travel. However, travel doesn't really describe all of me, it just describes me right now. When Allison was here we discussed this and she thinks my word could be commitment. Which I am not entirely opposed to, as I do tend to commit to things whole-heartedly and then stick with them...it just doesn't feel like the perfect choice. Most people who have spent significant time with might toss out the word sarcasm in reference to me, but I don't think I am content with that as my life word either. So, in summary...the search continues.

I did however, do some thinking about other words. I think Colombia's word is prove. Fair or not, Colombia has something to prove to the world after a difficult history, and their efforts are quite apparent. Cali's word is most definitely salsa. Salsa rules this city - the culture, the language, the music, the bars, everything! Minnesota's word might be recreation...or un-complicated. Both seem to describe my home state quite well.

So...now the obvious question...what's your word?

Happy thinking!

John Mayer - I love this man :)

No one buys CDs anymore. I get that. I know we all love to get our music online, and I love my itunes just as much as the next fresh-out-of-college-20-somethingl. HOWEVER, there are some artists who are just that good. I want to buy their CDs because sometimes that's all I want to listen to. None of this put my ipod on shuffle business - sometimes I just want one artist. You know those CDs you can put in on the road and listen to from start to finish? LOVE them. Some of my favorites to listen to from cover to cover are Gavin DeGraw, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Jack Johnson, and lately, Green River Ordinance (Definitely one of my new favorites!). But, let's be honest, every girl has an all time favorite and mine is most definitely John Mayer. With 94 amazing songs on my ipod he is my go to artist for whatever mood I am in. From the first time I saw him scrunch up his face and play his acoustic guitar I have been in love with his music.

His lyrics just always make me think, which is something I love about music. And the lyrics...ahhhh so good! For example...

Searching all my days just to find you
I'm not sure who I'm looking for
I'll know it
When I see you
Until then, I'll hide in my bedroom
Staying up all night just to write
A love song for no one.
[Love Song For No One]

And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want
That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change.
[Waiting On The World To Change]

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open
Say what you need to say.
[Say]

Friends, lovers, or nothing
There can only be one
Friends, lovers, or nothing
We'll never be the in between.
[Friends, Lovers, or Nothing - NEW!]

Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for.

[Belief]

Annnnnnd just for good measure one of my favorite things he has every said on stage :)


Well this week his latest CD, Battle Studies, came out and until someone (thanks Mom!!) ships it to Colombia, I am settling for listening to tidbits from his website and his amazing performance on Letterman last night! If nothing else, listen to the first song - Heartbreak Warfare. LOVE.


Enjoy & happy Friday!

A teeny tiny bit of food for thought...

The days are long, but the years are short.

(Credit thanks to this blog)

Feeling Contemplative

For the life of me I could not sleep last night. (Probably because I lounged around all weekend trying to recover from NYC...) But still! I think part of the problem is I have been feeling quite contemplative lately...about basically everything in my life. Since my thoughts were random in and out of trying to fall asleep, I will try to capture some things with bullet points.

• Even if I teach until I'm 80 how am I ever going to feel like I'm doing enough? There is so much for students to learn - about math & life & slope & love & graphing on a coordinate plane & relationships & how in the world am I going to fit it all in? I need these kids of mine to change the world - I need them to inspire one another (& inspire me!) to fix the mistakes of the past and continue some of the good things we already have going on. How am I helping them to do all that?
• What about these students who just don't care one way or another? Are they happy in school? Do they absolutely dread each school day - and is there a better way to help them learn? When did the wonder & curiosity & joy of learning leave them? And how in the world do I get it back???
• The world is a big place. On a daily basis I hear about, read about, or think about new places I want to see. (Teaching with other teachers who love to travel doesn't really help this...) How am I going to ever feel like I have seen everything I could or want to? Who am I going to go on all these adventures with? Just a few places I am dying to see/visit: Boston, Australia/New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Spain, California, Seattle, Colorado, every MLB stadium, etc. (yes I will see a game in Yankee Stadium even if it kills my soul...)
  
• On the subject of travel: there is nothing like perusing a guide book of a new country to make you realize you haven't even see the majority of your own country. I think I need to spend at least two weeks road tripping across the United States. This needs to happen within the next year. Next question: do I go east or west from Minnesota?
• In two years (yeah, yeah, I know it's still a long time from now...but these last 3 months have felt like 3 days!) will I be ready to move back to Minnesota? Can I handle packing up and starting somewhere new and starting over? Will I want to stay another year in Colombia? If I move back to Minnesota will I be so elated to be back with my family and friends that moving to any other place would seem silly?
• AND if I'm not back in Minnesota in two years, but instead somewhere else, at what point will the life I had there cease to exist as I remember it? In 2 - 3 years will I be the girl who has these awesome stories & adventures, but ends up at all my friends' weddings & baby showers & grad school graduations alone?

Whew! Told you there was a lot! In conclusion we will see where life takes me, I guess... Finally, I leave you with some life inspiration from today's email correspondence with my father:

There is no path to peace; peace is the path. -Ghandi

Six Word Memoirs-Tell Your Story!

Just read this on my friend Nicole's blog, and I had to share! Nicole and I have been friends since high school and she is currently spending a year abroad in Australia. I probably wouldn't even have a blog if not for her inspiration...or I would have a much less interesting blog at the very least.

Anyway, today she posted about a project called the Six-Word Memoir. Supposedly inspired by Hemingway when he was challenged to write a story in only six words. He responded with: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Interesting concept, huh?

I thought so! There is an entire website devoted to the idea where people go to share their own six-word memoirs, and it is actually really interesting to read. Some are serious, some funny, and others really make you think! So check it out if you have a spare moment in between other life events....(for me that means during my prep hour!)

Here are some I thought of that apply to me:
1. "Refusing to settle for anything less."
2. "Molding mathematical minds day by day."
3. "Dreamer. But not the only one." (John Lennon's "Imagine" came on my ipod just as I was typing this...weird!)
4. "Struggling to live in the moment."
5. "Terribly sarcastic. Almost to a fault."

Here are some of my favorites from the website:
1. Lucky in everything else but love.
2. I promise never to grow up.
3. Followed rules. I bend them now.
4. Tea. Serenity in dried leaf form. :)
5. Fate worse than hell; working retail.
6. Life is not fair. Get acclimated. (I'm considering this as my new catch phrase with my 8th graders...)

Enjoy and happy Wednesday...only two more days until Semana Receso = no class for a week!

Happy Birthday Anna!!

"Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates, and guys are just people to have fun with." [Sex & the City]

Soulmates are a funny concept. Is there really someone out there so perfect for you that you were "meant to be together"? And do you just have one? Or are there several you will find throughout the course of your life?

All questions aside, I do think there are people out there who sometimes know us and understand us better than we know ourselves. Since I met Anna, and our mutual friend Maria, in 8th grade, the three of us have felt intrinsically connected to the others. We share so many things, from the way we grew up as kids to our values and beliefs as adults. I never went to school with Anna until we both attended University of Wisconsin - La Crosse together for 4 years. Looking back on those years, I cannot imagine not going to school with her. She literally was there for everything that happened, and all the ways I changed during college she was right there to watch me and help me along. Whether it was at 10:30 on a school night or 2:30 am on the bus ride home from Third Street :) she remained the best listener I could ask for. Today she is celebrating her 23rd birthday in La Crosse without me :(, and this weekend she will celebrate Octoberfest in La Crosse with some of the most wonderful women I know. I can't help but feel a little bit jealous!

Anna Mawie (intential typo...) have a wonderful birthday, thank you for bringing out the best parts of me and always giving me the best parts of you.

My graduation day!

Anna & I the night she came back from studying abroad in Spain...which up until now was the longest I have ever gone without seeing her!

At the end of the day...

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy"

[Guilaume Apollinaire]

Moving to entirely different city, country, & continent is hard. There are stressful moments, and inevitably you will miss what you left behind in some way or another.

Two months into this experience I have only begun to scratch the surface of what is to come, but last night I really came to the realization that I am truly happy here. I could not be more at peace with my decision to move abroad to teach. At the end of every day, I love being a teacher. I am thrilled to help students learn math, and I love building relationships with them along the way. Sure, they sometimes talk more than I would like, but they are wonderful, fun-loving, and nice kids, and they challenge me in new ways everyday. Nothing gives me more hope in our collected future than to see the wonderful people growing up in the world today. As cliche as it sounds, kids (and their education!) really do have a defining impact on our futures.

Apart from my classroom, I love the environment of living in a big city like Cali. I love that there are always people around, enjoying life in some form or another, whether it is the groups who sit outside our little tienda at night, families walking together in the park, or friends out together in Cali. I love that I feel comfortable here; comfortable enough to do things on my own if I need to, like go to the grocery store, run errands, go for a run, etc. I love the people I work with at my school. Education is a wonderful profession, but it is an easy profession to get burnt out on if you're not careful. The majority of people I work with also really love students and learning, which makes all the difference in the world. They are honest, intelligent, and real people and I have so much to learn from them.

Furthermore, I love the friends I am starting to establish here. Nothing makes me feel more at home that having a support system I can turn to on days when I don't love everything. The people I left behind in the States have been more supportive than I ever could have imagined, and that was a hard thing to leave. Now that I am here in Colombia, I am so glad Maggie and I are roommates. She also challenges me in wonderful ways, and we balance each other so well. I love knowing that I can go home and flop on her bed to de-brief the day. I love that during break and lunch I usually end up seeing her even though we live together; we just genuinely appreciate each other's company. I love the other friends I have built here as well, and the bonds that are starting to grow between everyone. Finally, we are not just all colleagues, but rather friends who can discuss real things outside of the realm of our 7-3:30 workdays. :)

Okay...so before I get too into the mushiness (is that a word?) of this post, I will cut myself off. :) You're welcome. Have a splendid Thursday!!!



p.s. To all of you Grey's Anatomy watchers: ENJOY! I wish I could be watching with you tonight.... :)