Day 36: Not That Different Afterall

So my day started at 6:00--ninety minutes of alone time in my living room with Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. I am working through this program that a friend of mine introduced me to and I made so much progress this morning. It's life changing, insightful and it set up my day for so. much. joy. Here are the highlights:

1) When I checked the thermostat this morning the temperature was 62 degrees. A bit chilly, even for me. Turns out our central heat is no longer centrally heating but by noon, the guy was here and with no help from me other than opening the door, our heater had risen from the dead. It's a beautiful thing.

2) On a hunch I headed to the cafeteria today for lunch. I don't usually do that but I was late leaving my office and I had so much to accomplish that I decided to save some time and eat "out." Most of the kids were gone by the time I got there so it was just Bonny, Phil and me sitting around a table and eating together. Though we talked about nothing significant, it was so much fun.

3) Today in ESL I introduced new vocabulary words. One of the words was 'advantage.' Normally I say the word for them and then explain the definition, give some sample sentences, etc. to make sure they understand what the word means. So today I said, "Advantage means...." and Ricky interrupted me: "I know! Mt. Pisgah Advantage Academy!" And he was for real. I've laughed about that all evening! Those Koreans...they are genuinely great people.

4) The realization (and discussion with a couple of dear people) about how, though we are all unique and different, we are all so intimately connected--everybody, all over the world. We all seek acceptance, try to do what's best for ourselves and those we love, yearn for good things, laugh, cry and plan for our futures. And so, though we are all so different, we really aren't that different afterall. We share similar journeys on this planet as we live our lives. And it seems to me that our mission should be, above all, to make each other's journey just a little bit easier until we all get to the other side. It's simple really...but gosh we make it complicated.

5) I made dinner this evening and Miranda joined. Miranda is a sophomore here--a delightful girl who exudes so many good things. And she and Darian giggled and chattered and just had a generally good time. But one of the things that I cherish about Miranda is how very much she reminds me of Bekah, Savana's best friend from high school. I loved that girl--and I miss her so very very much. So having Miranda here was just a little bit of extra special.