Re-Oriented

True to form, I have not written a blog post for well over a month now. I think that I might make one of my Lenten goals to write weekly? It might help increase the frequency of my insightful wisdom….

The last time that I decided to write a blog post was right before my family came out to LA to visit me, so that seems like a proper place to start this current post. It is hard to truly describe my experience out here without actually showing it to people. It is hard to explain people and places to my friends and family who have never seen more than the “Disneyland” side of Los Angeles. That is what made the short trip that my mom, dad, and sister made so special.

Every month or so we have an event at Verb called “Fiesta Friday”. It is pretty much a party with all of the faculty members after school to unwind at the end of a long week. It just so happens that my parents showed up on one of these special Fridays. They were immediately welcomed into our community here at Verb and what was supposed to be a quick introduction turned into a 1 ½ hour ordeal that nobody was in any rush to leave. My parents and sister were finally able to meet most of my coworkers and get a firsthand look at what my life has been for the past 6 months. In less than 2 hours I was able to show them more than I could have described in six months on the phone, it was great.

That night I was able to take them to my casa and, like most JVs, we all jumped at the opportunity for a free meal! I spent the rest of the weekend showing them the sights of LA. We had lunch at Homegirl café, drove through Rodeo drive, shopped in Santa Monica, and had lunch on the beach in Malibu. It really made me realize how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family and to have the opportunity to spend a year in such an exciting location (it is hard to beat 70 degrees and sunny in January too). Unfortunately they were only able to stay for a few days, but it was a welcomed experience. Everyone who can: come visit!

The week after my family left we had our mid-year JVC retreat (Re-O) up in Apotos, California. It is crazy to me that we are already halfway done with this experience; it feels like I boarded a plane for San Jose yesterday! That being said, it was such a welcomed experience being back together with all of the JVs again. It is so easy to get absorbed in the microcosm that is LA and Verb, so the reminder that there are so many people doing great works all over California and Arizona was a breath of fresh air. It is safe to say that many of the speakers and activities were a bit dull at times, but overall it was wonderful. I came away with two major themes from the retreat: I am surrounded by wonderful people in JVC (especially my casa) and none of us know what we want to do with our lives.

Throughout my life, and pretty much everyone else I knows life, there has always been the lingering thought in the back of my head thinking towards the future. When I was in Junior High I thought of high school, in high school college, in college JVC, in JVC grad school, etc, etc, etc… Why is this? Shouldn’t our real goals in life be to do the absolute best at what we are currently doing and not spend so much time thinking about our next move? This has been a struggle for me in JVC, remembering that I did not do JVC so I could prepare for law school but instead doing JVC because of the fact that I wanted to do JVC. This presence of mind is something that has grown stronger in me over the past several months and Re-O was another major snap back to the present. None of us truly know (even if we think we do) what our next step is going to be, so it is really in our best interest to just do our absolute best at what we are currently engaged in and the future will truly discover itself when the time is right.

Since I haven’t written in so long, my memory has been so flooded with activities that I am going to have to return to my old reliable format of bullet points…..

- John and I got a brand new (sort of) bathroom, I would highly recommend checking it out if you are in town
- We have had some great spirituality nights
- We made pizza with one of the JV houses for Valentine’s day
- Verb made the playoffs in soccer
- College acceptance letters for students have been rolling in, so great!
- We went to the beach
- I am trying to pick a law school…
- Our house is freezing
- Julie’s dad came and visited
- Went to a glee club performance by a historically black university (Morehouse college)
- Drove a couple of routes
- Filled up a lot of vans
- Kept realizing how awesome our faculty at Verb is
- Finished the CWSP section of the yearbook!
- Tried to change a flat tire of a school van during rush hour traffic: fail
- Have done yoga 4 times, VERY difficult
- Went to Omaha/Lincoln over Presidents day weekend: Awesome!
- Found out I am going to Mexico for a service trip in April
- Saw “Black Swan”- messed up
- Saw “The Room”- incredible
- Went “shopping” with John and Julie on Rodeo drive
- Climbed the Hollywood sign
- Went to the “Getty Villa”
- Caught up with some friends
- Missed you all

I am sorry I did not go into details on so many different things! Hopefully I will be able to fulfill my Lenten promise I just made and write more frequently. Until then wishing everone the best.