late at night from a libertyville kitchen table

It's very late at night (or very early in the morning) here in Libertyville, and the house is quiet. After realizing very concretely the value of family and close friends while in Vanuatu, I've been doing my best to spend as much time as I can with each while here in Chicago-land. The whole family was here tonight: dad and Connie, Evan (now 13, older that I was when he was born), and Eric and Shannon in from Lansing. It was lovely to have a full house. My good friends Paula and Kathleen came over from downtown to work on a sewing project for Paula's new place. The sewing, as Paula so correctly stated "was really just an excuse to hang out for an entire afternoon." Best excuse I ever heard. These are the wonderful, bittersweet things about moving that I will remember from this week - spending time that I know is valued. (Also I know I'll be back at Christmastime, so this move feels FAR less scary and dramatic than moving to Vanuatu. I know I didn't get to see everyone this week - sorry Mrs. W! - but I'm only one, and I'll back in December, of course.)

I've also been running a lot more than I have been in the past few months. I mean, I would run...but now I am RUNNING. It feels great - my body feels stiff and well-used. As part of the Outward Bound program in which I will be partaking, there will be a 1-6 mile run every morning with the kids. So I gotta get these legs in shape! Kathleen and Nixon (both friends from Hope College) joined me on a run along Lakeshore Drive this morning, which I'd been longing to do. There, you see all sorts of people - some with four water bottles strapped to their belts, and some jogging in khaki shorts. The lake is beautiful and I love looking at the different names painted on all of the yachts along the harbor. The best one I saw today was a boat called the "Just Cause." That made me giggle, as I love almost anything with a double meaning. Well, we had a lovely run along the lakeshore, and then went to eat french-toasted cinamon rolls. In the words of Thea, "only logical choice." Indeed.


There's also the less romantic side of moving: all the stuff. Coming from Vanuatu (where I left most of my things before returning) and then from living at home, I ended up with a good deal of last minute erands to run and things to purchase. I read a book called "Affluenza" that said that many Americans get a sort of 'purchasing high' when they shop. Some even use shopping as a sort of 'therapy' when they are feeling down. I don't know if that's true for you, but I know that I tend to go the opposite direction - more like 'shopping depression'! And I've been doing far more of it this week than I'm used to. I seem to have avoided it well enough in the months past, living at home, and now it's all pouncing on me. Ah, the confessions of a shop-a-phobic. Perhaps there is something left over from my Vanuatu days, where it feels very strange to buy more than a few items a week...or maybe I'm just rather a scrooge and dislike spending my own money. ;) So, I'm wondering, are you a shop-a-holic, a shop-a-phobic, or somewhere in between?

Time to departure: 1.5 days and counting!

first post

In beginning my new adventure as an Outward Bound instructor, and so I don't go incommunicado for the next several months, I have created this blog. It has the same name as the blog I kept up while living in Freiburg, Germany in 2004...but I could not find that blog any more. It has been lost in the electronic wilderness of the internet. If you stumble upon it, let me know. It would be interesting to see what I was writing five years ago. At twenty-five, five years is 20% of my total life-span to date - a significant percentage, and an interesting lapse to look at and mull over.

Well - It would be lovely to hear from any or all of you either by comment, email, letter, or phone. Here is where I am at right now:

I will be leaving Kalamazoo for Chicago on August 24. After a couple days in the city with family and friends, I will head to Fairhope, Alabama on August 29 for OB training. The job I will be doing and learning involves leading high schoolers on extended wilderness trips - to my understanding, these will be 20-30 day canoe trips throughout Alabama and Florida. Some programs will involve work with "at-risk" youth, some will involve work with adjudicated youth, and some will involve youth that are there by choice, just looking for an adventure.

I am excitedly anticipating the start of this work. I feel as though it is a great step in my path of calling and career - which may never be straightforward but which so far has been meaningful and interesting. I don't feel the need to elaborate on my calling or what has led me to this point, but - it definitely feels like the right move for me. And it will be a great adventure.

In the next two weeks, I will be wrapping up my work at The Adventure Centre and as Lord of Life. There will be many people and places in Kalamazoo that I love and will have to leave behind for a time. It is hard to make connections and then walk away from them. I have gotten a lot of support from these places and people and am so grateful that they can support me in this move as well - in fact, sometimes it blows me away, how gracious and encouraging are the people in my life.

Regardless of jobs and travels and adventures, Kalamazoo will always be home, and I hope that life will return me here to stay someday.