I've mentioned here that summers are measured to me by mission trips, and how long our college interns are here. With July half over, 5 of 7 mission trips are in the books and both JH and HS camps have gone and returned home. We're down to only a few weeks left with the interns, and before I am ready, school will have started, the Seniors of 2010 will be off on new adventures and the office routine will be back to "normal" (whatever normal is!). With some new office policies in place, my days of youth mission trips may be over. I did manage a week in the New Mexico mountains with our high school camp (highs in the 60's, lows in the upper 40's!) and had a rough time coming back to the Texas 95 degree heat. But the week at camp followed another week out of the office - in a completely different setting!
A new trip was added - a (possibly) once in a lifetime trip to New York City. Putting 13 women aged from 24 to 54 in a 5 bedroom 5 bath, 5 story brownstone in Harlem has more memories, more stories, more laughs and more pictures than you can imagine! Cassidy, one of her best friends from Harding and I joined 10 other women in sharing this wonderland of a home - in Harlem. Yes, Harlem! Flying standby has it's joys (and headaches), and 12 hours before departure from DFW, we found the flights into Laguardia filled with passengers. Last minute changes found us flying into Newark, NJ but we saw more local fare than everyone else! :) Oh, we saw lots more that week - from the Apollo Theatre Amateur Night, to a Comedy Improv show off Broadway - to falling in love with Little Italy (her shopping and food!), eating in Chinatown and TriBeCa, walking through The Bronx and the Bronx Zoo, seeing the city from the Top of the Rock, and from the Staten Island Ferry. We shopped (and shopped in Midtown, SoHo, the Financial District, Little Italy and more!) and ate (and ate some more). We met the local neighbors, BECAME a neighbor, met great men from Ladder 20 and even experienced the NYPD and one of their helicopters in our backyard and on our street. Do it all again? You bet. Tomorrow? If only we could - we would! NEXT year - we'll spend more time in Central Park, more time in Times Square, more time in Harlem, more time meeting the real New Yorkers. Whatever we do, I'm confident we will still leave - having wanted to do more.
Rachel made it back to Arkansas, and Cassidy and I (barely) made a flight back to DFW (remember, we fly standby?) - in just enough time to unpack, wash clothes and repack to be on the road to Camp Pine Springs - near Sacramento, NM with 100 campers and sponsors for a week that matches no other.
I don't know what I enjoy about my life more - the time I spend with my family, my friends, and/or my coworkers. Sometimes, I get extremely lucky and get to be with those people all at the same time. With the woes of the American people today, I know there is so much pain (loss of job, loss of family, loss of acceptance), but when you have the family of God to walk alongside, it becomes so much more bearable.
This was made evident just today - in many ways. My church coworker family lamented the unfairness of the banking world with me, I ran into a very special friend from days when Cassidy was in Junior High (that even tho' it's been way too long since we've seen each other - time stood still for just those few moments, and we were back at that retreat where we bonded), and ALL of my immediate family sat at a restaurant table for dinner and just enjoyed being together. Enjoyed it so much that we moved outside to a picnic table to continue our time together.
3 John 1:4 is a favorite verse, but I do have another great joy - knowing that my children not only walk in the truth, but love the people they are walking with. My mom turned 87 this month, and my dad's 91st birthday will be in just a handful of weeks. He's been gone from this earth for 79 weeks, but he's never farther than a thought away. I find myself laughing at memories, and thoughts of how he must be shaking his head at our ineptness, and in just a flash, I find myself crying again - because I miss his wisdom, his concern for me and my children, and his personal ways of just taking care of my mom - who he was married to for over 68 years. As much as I try to fill that gap, I find myself lacking - and wishing I could do more for her - be available 24 hours a day and make things "easy" for her. Then I realize that we are all very blessed to be in the same county, and able to sit on the same pew every weekend for church. That hasn't happened since I was in junior high myself. (Which brings me back to seeing Amy today - and realizing how fast time races - and how many people I have lost track of, or not spent enough time with.)
So in 3 weeks, I'll be in Houston - for the day - to meet up with some of my high school friends for lunch. It might sound like a long day to some of you - not necessary - even a beating. But after going 35 years without seeing many of them, I don't want to spend one more year missing out on their lives, and our memories. I miss the educator's schedule - having 10 weeks off to go and do what I wish with my own schedule. I miss the freedom of spending the days leisurely catching up with doctor's appointments, cleaning out closets and traveling places on a whim. But the flip side of that is that I get to spend 5 days a week with people that I know have the same interests and dreams that I do - mentoring teens and working for "Greater Things that are yet to come, and for greater things to still be done in this city". A good friend gave birth to her daughter this month, and another good friend will bring a son into this world and into their family next month. I am truly blessed to be part of both of their lives, and to watch so many of my "younger friends" as they parent their children into being the kind of teens and adults that they have become - law abiding adults, who love each other, love their children, love MY children, and love me. It's all about that joy again - the joy of knowing we all desire to walk in the truth.
