This month we have been able to all stay in the same bedroom.
There are 6 of us on 3 bunk beds. We each have our packs and whatever else that's exploded out of them everywhere. Space wasn't really an issue for any of us really.
We only have two days left here before we get on a bus to Kenya for debrief and I am astounded that we made it the whole month without killing each other.
We have more than enough space, but we also have more than enough stuff.
Mind you we've been on the race 5 months now, almost at the half way point, so some people are still huge fans of their space. I on the other hand am having separation issues since I've had a bed all to myself the past several weeks.
While my bed is a twin, it's still about twice the width of my sleeping pad and even more than that I had gotten very used to community sleeping.
Sleeping pads edge to edge to edge, to the point even that if one of you turned over, all of you turned over. I even got so used to going to sleep by myself on my pad, but waking up with the person next to me sharing my pad most nights.
Now I find myself most nights huddled against the wall while I sleep with almost an entire bed left open next to me.
When I left home I had just sold my queen sized bed. It was huge. I could sleep diagonally, curled up in a ball, on my side; pretty much however I fell, I was going to fit. It had a pillowtop and memory foam beneath it accompanied by the perfect quilt.
I LOVED my bed. In fact, sleeping is one of my best skills.
It's funny what things the Lord chooses to alter your mindset.
Before I left home, my bed was my independance, it was all mine, no one else had a say. I got to sleep in it however I wanted and whenever I wanted. I never had to worry about anyone else being in it or taking my space.
Yet even now as I sit in my bed writing this, I find myself feeling like I'm missing community. Even though they are within mere feet of me in their beds. I have an entire space that isn't being inhabited by someone.
It makes me wonder what it will be like to sleep in a bed by myself again. I've even joked about paying my friends to come keep me company just so it feels normal.
The Lord took one of the most important things to me that guaranteed separation from anyone and everything and exchanged my mindset to become that of community. He grew a desire in me for those around me.
I know it probably sounds weird that I would make such weird associations, but it's so true. I used to love my bed for the separation, but now I love a bed because it brings community.
