“Life is like a box of chocolates…. You never know what you’re gonna get.” – Forrest Gump
A well-known quote that is recited often and is so true. You never know what is going to happen to you in life. Me coming on the World Race is proof of that. I’d also like to that family can be viewed in a similar way. You don’t get to choose your family. You also don’t get to choose your World Race team. Yes I had some input as to who I thought I would work well with and such, but the final decision was not up to me. In the end I had to realize that just like I didn’t choose my biological family, I wouldn’t be able to hand-pick my World Race family either.
Getting split into teams at training camp was mildly difficult for me. In truth I was hoping to be on a co-ed team because in the past I had been hurt a lot by girl friends and I didn’t want to go through that again while on the Race. Of course like so many other areas of my life God had other plans.
Our first month on the Race was a bit of a struggle for me as I wrestled with the fact that I was going to have to learn how to live, work, and be vulnerable with five women I had only known about 9 weeks. This whole process absolutely terrified me. I spent quite a bit of time during that first month trying to keep my team at arm’s length. Starting month 2 my team challenged me to open up more and let them in because they wanted to know me, to know who I really am.
Again this terrified me down to my core. I couldn’t help but compare these women to the girls I had once known who had hurt me. This comparison crippled me with fear. I saw similarities between the two and didn’t want to speak up because I was so afraid of my team’s reactions. I was so worried that they would react like these girls and I didn’t know what I’d do if they did. As I thought and prayed about it I came to understand that God put me in this position so that I could be healed from past hurts.
When I finally shared with the team they responded the exact opposite of what I expected. They all said essentially the same thing of “we’re not going anywhere. We’re family”.
This month God taught me about a new version of family. We stayed with a pastor who had two crazy but wonderful boys that we spent a majority of our time with. I celebrated my 22nd birthday with them and it was the first time I was so far away from home. I may not have had my biological family with me, but I was still surrounded by love as I celebrated with my Rwandan one. Spending our days hanging out with the kids and then talking with the parents in the living room before bed we felt like one big family.
My World Race family isn’t perfect and I am still learning how to be vulnerable with them. We each are so different, but like a box of chocolates even though there are so many different flavors it still brings a smile to someone’s face. Because chocolate is delicious in any flavor. You don’t get to choose your family but I have certainly been blessed by the ones I have gotten to be a part of and I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures we will have.
