Into The Woods

I always love the green I see across our campus and surrounding it.

The annual Tree Day holiday gives students a chance to take part in simple
beautifying tasks on the grounds of our campus and in a few other parts of town.

This week's Tree Day celebration had the teenagers and me braving the woods behind campus in order to plant trees.

Being in the woods like that took me back in a flash to my school boy days as an elementary schooler. I realized I am thankful for the neighborhood kids I grew up with. They're who I followed into the woods we lived close to...without those kids, it's possible I never would've walked around in there...never would've touched the earth in there with my hands...never would've realized it's fine to sit on top of dirt and leaves and twigs and sticks...never would've tried exploring a creek in there and turning over big rocks to find what lives underneath...never would've developed my connection with the dust I was made from...never would've appreciated my fellow creation as fully....never would've known how peaceful it is in the woods...never would've known what kids today are missing out on...never would've known the need to have my own sons and daughters follow me into the woods someday. 

Who Gives A Crap

Here's the unexpected thought process that unfolded when I saw one of the teenagers walking across campus after school:

My first thought was that I'm not sure we got through to him this year. After so much intervention, planning, tutoring, threatening, encouraging, collaborating, and reassuring his parents - it's possible he's about to exit the school year with the understanding that he will still be passed through or allowed to do whatever he was told could be forfeited if he failed to change.

Then I thought about the fact that the parents might continue to enable or make concessions or bail him out. And the fact that he may never really "get it" and make positive changes, and mature into the kind of person that can avoid hard lessons and rude awakenings later in the real world. 

From there, I thought that as much of a shame as that would be, the reality is that student will still survive and probably be alright in the grand scheme of things. 

That's when it hit me.

That whole thought process brought me to the recognition of just how much we (teachers) give a crap...just how much we carry the weight of making the difference that we know needs to be made.

We find ourselves involved in a ton of feeling, and this is the peculiar part:

it's all for someone (or several different someones each year, followed by a new list of someones at the start of every new academic year) who isn't even our kid...or our relative...or so much as our best friend's kid who we just love to pieces.

Interesting to be just arriving at some moment of closure or settling of the soul after 9 months of physical/mental/emotional labor and toil.

Big

Back in graduate school, some of my coolest friendships were with internationals.

I remember noticing the effect those students had on me. They had moved from all over the world to Athens, Georgia for higher education - in spite of the uncertainty and fear involved in such an undertaking - and something about that reality struck me in a particular way.
It made me feel like the world was smaller than I thought before.

Of course, in those days I had no idea that the courage of my international friends would help embolden me to live abroad someday.

But I am so glad it did.

Pinch Me

I'm never shy about expressing gratitude for the privilege of realizing so many of my dreams. I've been able to cross off every goal I had for the first ten years after undergrad.

Thinking about it tonight, I see something else to be thankful for. It's the fact that along the way, living each dream actually felt like living a dream. Even now after 22 months in Copán, there are moments when I can't believe I live here. It's still a little surreal.

Give It What It Needs

Turns out there's nothing like starting a Monday feeling brand new because of extra rest you let your body have during the weekend.

Keys To Happiness

In recent months, I've found myself committing to something I realize sounds a little funny.

Years ago, before I ever left the states, I took my lifestyle from mediocre to good, and then from good to amazing. It has continued to be amazing here in Honduras, but this year something is compelling me to take my lifestyle from amazing to whatever is beyond that.

I know going to the next level will involve maximizing my happiness and my health. And conveniently, some things I've been reading since this time last year happen to touch on the study of human happiness and the value of examining the phenomenon of happiness in one's own life.

So, I am growing from all this.

And then quite accidentally this week, I drew further inspiration from a video I found and showed the teenagers for a lesson in our Personal Narratives unit on how to write a proper thank-you.

Click below to find out what the video says about the connection between showing gratitude and happiness.

Future Husband And...

Me: Okay - your turn, Litzy. What's something you're planning to accomplish for the future?

Litzy: I will be an actress and a model.

Me: A model? Really? Josue, in the other section - he said he is going to marry a model someday...

Litzy: Yes, I will be his wifi.

I Am Free

"You know, you don't actually deserve to harbor a grudge or stay bitter towards anyone for any trespass in your entire history."

This was the thought that walked softly into my consciousness in a quiet moment at work this week.

It didn't come completely out of nowhere, but it also wasn't brought on by any heavy internal turmoil or lengthy thought process about someone who did me wrong.

Just something that sort of dawned on me in a light, liberating, ring of truth-having type of way.

Why Me?

This is how it seems to me:

I am basically living the best life I can imagine, while also recognizing the fact that there's a relentless trend in which time repeatedly delivers new chapters of unforeseeable awesomeness to my story.

Return To An Old Love

Cheese plate from the cafe many of my fellow foreign teachers frequent.

In the midst of living in a world so different from the one I came from, I've been fortunate to find time and space to reflect on my experiences.

Here is one thought that has come together during this journey of discovering more about who I am:

I like and need to be outdoors...and not just for a few minutes.

This is true even when the weather isn't ideal.

It's like I've realized that the way I was as a kid - spending all kinds of time outside playing sports, exploring in the woods and creeks, swimming in the neighborhood pool, riding bikes, et cetera, is what I never should've given up and need to get back to forever!