Dear beloved friend,
I’m going to see you soon. It’s true!
It’s no secret or surprise that this year has changed me. My homecoming will be a big adjustment for everyone I’m close to, and I want us both to be ready for it. These are a few things I think are most important for you to know before I land back in Kansas.
All of these things are true for me.
I will probably get very… very excited about things like carpet, air conditioning, and hot water.
I will probably forget that I don’t have to book a bus or find a taxi to get somewhere.
I haven’t had control over much this year, so choices may overwhelm me. This will probably make any kind of shopping an emotional minefield.
I still love a good coffee shop. One of my favorites was OR2K in Kathmandu:
This year had distinct seasons; it will be hard to answer questions that involve superlatives. Avoid asking about the “best” or the “biggest” or the “most”, at least for a few weeks.
Questions that seem simple might make me recall a lot of detail. Be ready for long answers. I’m a verbal processor.
Sometimes I’ll just say “I don’t know.” But I do know. I’m just not sure how to say it yet.
A big part of my journey this year was becoming ok with saying, “I don’t know.”
Every community has its own normal. I might have picked up a few words & phrases from The Q that are foreign to everyone at home, and I have no idea what those things are. Please fill me in. 🙂
Some of my default behaviors have changed. I probably won’t react to things or talk about things the way I did before.
All of my stories will sound a lot cooler than they actually were. Except for this one, and this one. They were freak-out worthy. Everything else was just life, just what was necessary or normal at that time.
More importantly, these are a few things I will strive to do. Hold me to it:
I promise to not judge America for living comfortably. In all of those weeks in hot, dusty villages, I longed for that comfort.
I promise to not start every single sentence with some variation of, “Well, when I was in this obscure country with these people you’ve never met…”
I promise to be impressed by impressive things. I really haven’t done or seen everything. I promise to listen, to be interested, to learn from you.
I promise to move forward with all that I’ve learned, to not keep my thoughts in what is past, and to find how the World Race will benefit me in whatever I do next.
Below is an excerpt from a Relevant Magazine article. It articulates a lot of my perspective right now. So in the words of Shauna Niequest, this is more-or-less what I’m saying to myself:
Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.
Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”
This next and last World Race transition involves you so much. However it plays out, know that I love you, and I cannot wait to see you. Really. I can’t. freaking. wait.
-Katie
