There and back again.
Yep, you can call me a world traveler, a time traveler. And well I’ve made it around the world in less than 2 weeks.
I got the opportunity to fly back to my brothers wedding. It was an amazing time with family and such a beautiful wedding!
But I’m going to be honest. I didn’t want to go.
I didn’t want to have to fly 40 hours to Arizona. Fly 40 hours back to Malaysia. And then the next weekend travel from Malaysia to Nicaragua. That’s a lot of flying in less than two weeks
I also was scared that I would get to America. And I wouldn’t want to finish the race. It’s hard. And lately I had found myself wanting to go home. Because I was tired of this thing called community.
I’ve spent 4 months with a team. And 3 months with a different team. Where we are in constant close quarters. With not that great of conditions. The heat gets to people. Makes people do crazy things.
I knew before I left my current team, I needed to be in a good place. And at the time I wasn’t. I was feeling low, exhausted, and I felt unloved. But here’s the thing about community, they don’t let you feel this way for long. But we’re family. And I went to them. And I said that I couldn’t do it any longer. I mean, I couldn’t live how we were. We needed to change the way we loved on each other. And the way we talked to one another and the way we viewed things. We need to love each other where we are, and be willing to put down our needs, for our teammates needs. And before I left. We were in a better place and figuring out how to live in community. I seriously love ever single one of my teammates. Even though they make me mad. Make me sad. And every emotion in between. I know they love me. And want to do life together.
So then I flew on a plane.. Several actually. And I don’t usually have huge expectations, because on the race, everything can change in a split second. But for some reason I had the idea that in Arizona, I would be able to have my own space. And I sorta did, if you consider my own space as in sleeping in the same room as my parents and my niece. While my brother, Nick, also shared the room. Although he slept on the couch instead. But he still had to use the space for his clothes.
Flash back, I got off the plane and a couple of conversations later with my parents. My dad said that all 14 of us. My parents and myself, my brothers and their families. And my soon to be sister in law’s family. We’re all staying in the same house.
My comment to him was, oh sweet I finally got out of community!
Obviously I was a little sarcastic, and partially dreading the situation, because living months on end I realized close quarters aren’t always good.
Anyway, everything turned out good and to be honest was a blast! It was fun waking up to my nieces running down the hallway laughing at 7 in the morning. Stepping out to the living room where 8 other people were sitting. Going out to eat with all 14 of us. And just being with family. And I knew they loved me.
Community is good. Whether it’s your family. Or your friends! And there is a lot to learn from them. I wouldn’t be who I am, without them. My parents, my brothers, my sister in laws, my friends, my squad mates and my teammates. Have all had something to do with who I am today.
For example, as a team, we do this thing called positive feedback. And on the nicer side of things an example would be. Teammate 1: Oh, today I saw you helping out so and so, even though that wasn’t where you were working today. That was awesome to see! Teammate 2: Thanks! (Huge smile on their face)
And I found myself giving positive feedback to my brother, Dempsey, when I was in Arizona!
It went something like this: Everyone went out to eat, only there were two separate tables but we wanted to all sit together. Dempsey took the initiative to get the ball rolling. And started shifting chairs and moving water glasses so that everyone could be seated at one big table. While the rest of us were occupied with other things, or already seated.
Without thinking, I immediately said; Thanks Demps for doing all that! I appreciate it.
And he looked at me with this funny face.
And I realized what I’d just done. And I said to him, oh boy, that was definitely a world race thing. And he thought it was cool.
But looking back, I don’t think it should be a “world race thing.” It should just be an everyday thing where we say something positive to people in our lives. And appreciate them.
Just some of my thoughts from the past few weeks as I reflect how crazy my life has been. 🙂
