I hate waiting. I admit I am very impatient and hate waiting so much. So when the little rainbow wheel on my computer continued to spin while nothing else on the screen would move, I was in pure torture. Minute after minute passed and the little rainbow ball still spun and my anger was growing faster than the spinning. Finally after about 45 minutes of spinning, I forced my computer to shut off and took a deep breath as I rebooted. The Apple icon quickly appeared on my screen and a loading bar popped up – progress. The loading bar began to fill, igniting a hope within my heart that would soon be crushed when the screen turned a pitch black before the loading bar was even a fourth of the way filled. I instantly hit the power button because this must have been a mistake; my computer must turn on. Yet, try after try, the same black screen resulted.
I admit I don’t know a lot about technology either, but nothing about my computer looked promising. It had been beaten and broken and was now showing no signs of hope. I refused to give up though, because my laptop is precious to me and its one of my only ways of communicating with my friends and family for the duration of the Race. Not to mention, it had all my pictures and memories on it and I turned to those when I was missing how life was before I decided to go on this crazy adventure. Determined, I handed my computer over to a higher power, one of our leaders Ashlin, to work a miracle and bring it back to life. She pulled through and my Macbook Pro lit up once again, estimating 7 hours and 43 minutes remaining on the update… Ashlin handed my computer back to me, warning she did not know how long it would take, but it should work.
And it did. After only about 40 minutes of updating, my computer was up and running again, actually at a pretty fast speed. There was only one flaw: every single thing that once loaded my computer was erased. My computer was fresh and new of life but the life I had before, the pictures, iMessages, contacts, notes and documents, no longer had evidence of existence. Yes, you can restore everything if you are smart and back up your hard drive. However, I sometimes lack intelligence and never back up anything, not even to iCloud. So there I sat contemplating my next move with my blank computer.
It only became apparent to me later that this situation actually related to me and I could learn from it, more than just learning to back up my files.
I actually have a lot in common with my laptop. I have a dense history but have had my fair share of hard times, fallen off a bed or laundry machine, and had coffee spilled all over me. But like my laptop, I am resilient. Yet, sometimes I just about break need to be revived. God showed me this and that wiping my computer clean was like wiping me clean in order for a fresh start. Although I don’t have the physical memories anymore, they are still with me, but now I have a clean slate at the beginning of the Race and even more room in my life for the new lessons and adventures yet to come.
While I anxiously await new adventures, feel free to send me pictures and videos because I would still like to remember you <3
FUNDRAISING UPDATE:
I am still working on fundraising and am currently only about $3,500 from being fully funded. Please consider donating and keeping me in your prayers so I can meet my final deadline and continue this amazing journey!
