Month ten.
Is this real life?
Days are long, but short.
Time is there, but then gone.
Tiredness and exhaustion sets in.
Daydreaming of the future creeps in.
America, in a little over one month.
“What am I going to eat first?”
“What am I going to do with my life?”
“What does life after the race even look like?”
All questions that run through my mind.
***
But see,
There’s this little girl named Marina.
Who puts the diva in divalicious,
But loves to give me kisses goodbye.
And Lolita. Oh Lola, I will never get tired of seeing her sweet face.
And precious Daniel. Always making faces, bursting into fits of laughter, and showing up at the house just to hang out.
“We” have mass every day.
Every day around two o’clock the kids run in our house,
Drop their bags, and run into the chapel.
“We” sing.
“We” pray.
“We” worship.
“We” love.
“We” hold hands.
“We” kiss each other cheeks.
“We” laugh.
“We smile.
“We.”
***
As I sit in mass each day
I have the opportunity to love on the child next to me.
But instead this child is loving on me.
Loving me in ways I didn’t know I needed love.
We don’t speak the same dialect, we don’t come from the same background, I mean we have nothing in common…
Except for the fact that regardless of how many times we don’t understand each other even after trying makeshift sign language, or how we don’t truly know anything about each other, we still love each other so deeply.
I realized that even more so today when Lolita smiled then screamed my name, came running over to me, snuggled up in my arms, looked up at me and said I love you, Katie, I love you.
Y’all my heart melted.
We were teaching them English but we had not taught them that.
I looked her in the eyes and said Lola, I love you too.
She smiled, threw her head in my lap, intertwined her fingers with mine, and truly acted in the love she just spoke of.
***
Then I started thinking about all the people that have stolen my heart on this race. There’s a lot. My heart is full. The fullest it’s ever been.
A fullness I didn’t know was possible.
I thought about all the “we’s” I had in each country.
…about Achu and all the other kids from 42 village in Cambodia.
…about sister Faith from South Africa and all my homies at Camp Joy.
…about Isaac and Blessy from India.
…about Dami and Anna Maria from Romania.
Y’all I’ve made a lot of “we’s” this year.
I was loved by and loved on a lot of people.
But it also makes me think about how much He loves us.
How full his heart gets when we tell Him we love Him.
How he was way more “we’s” than I could very imagine yet he intentionally and purposefully pursues each of us.
That’s big y’all. Let that set in, cause it still blows me away.
I go home in a little over a month.
Back to America.
But my heart is in so many different places.
A part of my heart is left with each and every one of those “we’s,”
But at the same time I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The race has taught me not only to love,
but to be a “we.”
To be a part of something.
To make a difference.
To be the change.
So for all my “we’s” out there, I do it for you.
Peace and blessings.
