12. Volunteer at a Dog Rescue

This suggestion came from my friend and former boss, Carol Marie. CM is a HUGE dog lover. Every time I go to her house, I get loved by a new furry friend who is either visiting or has taken up residence with her. CM regularly volunteers at BARK (Bandit's Adoption and Rescue of K-9s), so she was able to get me set up for a volunteer day.

 

BARK is a dog rescue; they do not euthanize so they often get rescues from other local kill-shelters when they are at full-capacity. BARK makes sure each dog is well-fed, gets the proper medical treatment it needs, and is loved. BARK found homes for 402 dogs in 2013. On any given day in Virginia, there are approximately 6,900 dogs in animal pounds...so the need for volunteers and resources is always present. New dogs arrive to BARK each week looking for someone to provide care and love to them.

 

As we drove there, I was expecting a big farm where the dogs could run around all day. Not quite. Because the dogs at BARK are rescues, many of them come from situations of abuse or neglect. As a result, not all of them are socialized to being around other dogs and they might react negatively in a high stress situation. As a precaution, each dog has to be kept away from other dogs until they have proven that they can play well with others.

Each dog is kept in its own pen, but a few have pen mates if the two came to BARK together. Every morning the dogs are individually ushered from their small pen, to one of the larger play pens outside. While they are outside, their inside pen gets washed by a volunteer. After their pen is cleaned, the dogs get walked on the trail around the facility, played with, loved on, and then put back in their inside pens. Their individual play time may be short, but it is super important to maintaining their mental, physical and emotional health. The daily socialization ensures that they will be adoption-ready whenever an adopting family becomes available.

CM and I spent most of the morning walking dogs. The dogs were super excited to walk and run around the trails, so we spent a lot of strength and energy keeping them away from the other dogs on the trail.  All of the dogs were so full of life, energy and affection. After a few hours of loving on our canine friends, we left tired, hungry, and smelly, but it was well worth it.

There were several dogs I fell in love with at BARK. I highly recommend you to check out their website if you are looking to adopt or foster a dog. They are always looking for good volunteers and donors to supply their food. You can learn more about the amazing rescue work BARK is doing here: http://www.barkva.org/Home.aspx.

 

 

#11 Visit a New Country: Haiti

Although I have been blessed to serve in several developing countries, Haiti is certainly unique.  Haiti is the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere; the average Haitian’s income is about $2 per day (World Bank, 2013).   Because of its history of colonialism and oppression, its culture is a mix of Spanish, French, and African influences.  As I was walking/riding around, with the exception of the Creole being spoken, I felt like I was living in East Africa again due to the strong African roots.  In contrast, when I have served in neighboring Dominican Republic, the Spanish influence is much more enveloping which makes you more attentive to the fact that you are in the Caribbean.

I went to Haiti with a medical mission team from The Haiti Mission Foundation.  The Haiti Mission sends a medical team four times a year to the Tovar Clinic which it built in the rural area of Grison-Garde.  By sending teams with such frequency and regularity, patients are supplied with some continuity of care.  When a patient is diagnosed with hypertension, they are dispensed a three month supply of medicine and told to follow up at the next clinic.  Usually, and somewhat surprisingly, they do.  At the second visit, a provider can determine if their medicine is sufficient or if it needs to be adjusted.  For people who have medical needs which are immediate and above the scope of our clinic, we have funds reserved to send them to the hospital in the city so that they can get the help that they need.  In Haiti, you have to pay for your hospital stay up-front before services are rendered.  If you go to the hospital without any money, then you will be forced to leave without any treatment.

For the first time ever, I saw a patient with cutaneous anthrax – a common malady for children in Haiti.  Because it requires shots of antibiotic, the patient returned to the clinic throughout the week.  Watching the lesion diminish in size was impressive and rewarding.  I saw a lady who had been seen by the July team who had a cancerous growth on her foot; the massive growth had been removed in July to restore her foot to normalcy.  In October, the growth had returned, grown larger from its original size, and was impeding the elderly lady’s ability to walk unassisted and without pain.  We knew she would require a foot amputation to prevent the spread of the cancer and to improve her quality of life; we were able to provide her with the funds necessary for the hospital to perform the surgery.  I was nervous for her when through the translator I explained she would need a foot amputation; to my surprise she was elated when we told her the news.  She was ready to be rid of the massive growth which has plagued her for so long.

The poverty of Haiti is a very real and present danger for the people who live there.  Because access to clean water is not readily available to everyone, diseases like cholera, dysentery, and parasites are alarmingly frequent.  Malnutrition is evidenced in wasted muscles, deceptively bloated tummies, and chronic skin conditions.  Because indoor charcoal stoves are used for cooking, asthma and COPD are common afflictions even in non-smokers. As patient after patient filed in, the most common complaint by far was pain.  Pain from things we seen in the United States like Arthritis, acute muscle injuries, or chronic overuse.  Yet, their pain was exacerbated above anything I see here: Pain from the burden of carrying firewood and water for bathing, drinking, and laundry great distances; pain from working out in the fields without the luxury of farm equipment; pain from a lifetime of hunger and improper nutrition; pain from parents worrying how they would put food in the mouths of their young babes; pain from watching too many loved ones die too young and of diseases which would have been prevented or easily cured if in another country.  Pain in Haiti is a daily companion that is often untreated, but impossible to truly ignore despite their best efforts.

In the midst of their pain, there is hope.  Hope for healing. Hope for relief. Hope in Christ. Although this is my first time coming to Haiti, there were many veterans on this trip.  They were continually astonished at the signs of progress from prior trips: we saw less orange-haired children (an effect of malnutrition) likely in part because of the clinic’s feeding program; we saw no cholera likely because there are more bore-holes and wells in place to provide access to clean water; and we saw better-fed babies because of better-fed mamas.  Progress can be slow, hard, and frustrating, but we are starting to reap the harvest from the seeds which faithful servants started planting a decade ago.  I am excited to see what God has in store for Haiti and her people. 

 

“You Said” by Hillsong

You said, "Ask and you will receive

Whatever you need"

You said, "Pray and I'll hear from Heaven

And I'll heal your land"

 

You said, “Your glory will fill the earth

Like water, the sea”

You said, "Lift up your eyes

The harvest is here, yes the Kingdom is near"

 

You said, "Ask and I'll give the nations to you"

Oh, Lord, that's the cry of my heart

Distant shores and the islands will see

Your light, as it rises on us

#10 Visit a New Museum: Museum of the Confederacy

A huge theme amongst the 30-for-30 challenge suggestions was fully appreciating things we generally take for granted.  One challenger readily recognized that most Richmonders fail to take advantage of the plethora of museums we house.  I am chief among sinners in this respect.  For this challenge, I chose the Museum of the Confederacy for several reasons: 1. With Richmond being the capital of the Confederacy, our MOC is well-known and highly regarded. 2. I am currently reading “Gone with the Wind” for a book club, so I have been learning about the Civil War. And 3. It comes with a sterling recommendation from my sister Gayle Lynn – If she patronized it on a visit here all the way from Washington state, I have no excuse to explain my absence.

When going to a museum, I highly recommend you experience it with the help of a skillful tour guide. Thankfully, my friend Marko, who is an amateur historian and aficionado of the Civil War, was available to take me on a narrative tour through the museum.  He recounted the Southern campaign year-by-year; the battle advances and the losses, the hardships and injuries the soldiers endured, the major mistakes that contributed to the South’s downfall, and the hand that fate played in both the wins and losses for each side.  Walking through the timeline display of the main floor brought to life the war that I have learned about in history classes throughout my childhood.  The tour also highlighted the fact that if a few factors had gone differently at some key times, the war could very easily have had a different outcome and our nation’s history would have been dramatically different.

My favorite part of the museum was the exhibit on the lower level which displayed the effect the war had at home.  The exhibit showcased the make-shift fashions which were worn when cotton was scarce; the jewelry women wore that held the locks of hair of their deceased husbands and sons; food fare which consisted of their only available food rations; and items made out of worthless Confederate promissory notes when the war was over.

Before visiting the MOC and reading “Gone with the Wind,” I had little appreciation for how difficult life was during Reconstruction.  Infrastructure was gone.  The new order distrusted the old order and vice versa.  Most Southern cities were in shambles from the ravaging of effects of the war, Sherman’s destructive path, or the South’s self-destruction of its own cities (including Richmond) to prevent their resources from the hands of the Union soldiers.  For most Southerners, their old ways of life and the security they brought were gone.  Despite these uncertain times, unity was maintained and our nation grew to what it is today.

The Museum of the Confederacy serves as a relic of the tenacity of the human spirit in the face of uncertainty and change.  I highly recommend exploring your local museums.

#9: RVA Trolley Tour

Everyone should get the opportunity to explore their hometown from the perspective of a tourist.  If you can do it on a trolley, even better!  As most people know, Richmond is saturated with history.  Having grown up here my whole life, I often take for granted the Civil War generals who are immortalized in statues along Monument Avenue.  As I walked the city streets when I lived in Church Hill, I definitely disregarded the significance of historical sites that pepper nearly every corner of the neighborhood.

Richmond is home to the first electric trolley line in the US.  The trolley line started running in 1888 and was shut down in 1949 to make way for the advent of the bus system.  The trolley was resurrected a few years ago as a tourist attraction.

Cruising through the streets in the elevated trolley allowed me to observe the streets without the distraction of traffic or hurrying to my next destination.  From the trolley vantage point, I was able to appreciate not only the Roman, but also the French influence in our architecture; the ornate ironwork outlining many homes as well as the absence of it due to the effects of the Civil War; and the contrast of buildings which have stood the test of time and those which have fallen to the hands of renovation. 

Our city is rich in history and unique in its patchwork of multiple cultural influences.  The trolley tour gave me a new appreciation of the vast history and culture which have surrounded me, and inadvertently influenced me, my whole life.  I look forward to learning more about the river city and enjoying her impressive testimony of time in the coming years!

 

#8 Visit Aunt Pat on Ocracoke Island

 #8 Visit Aunt Pat on Ocracoke Island

My Aunt Pat is one of the coolest people I know.  Now, I may be biased, but once you get to know her I think you will agree.  Aunt Pat is a Naturalist; she has spent most of her life dedicated to studying animals in their natural habitats and preserving their freedom to live safely and flourish in those habitats. She is a writer by trade and has written several books about her adventures across America. Her house is on Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks, but she spends a great deal of her year travelling in her truck with her animals and her guitar to the likes of the Adirondack Mountains in New York, a cowboy ranch in New Mexico, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, or wherever the wind takes her. Aunt Pat is a person of great adventure, but also of quiet depth and reflection who expresses herself creatively in writing books, songs, and painting.  She is always full of surprises and we never know where she is going next or when she will be blowing through town for a visit.

Growing up, I knew that when Aunt Pat came into town, she would be bringing with her some animal companion – often wounded – that she had rescued along the way of her travels.  She would tell us stories from teaching the children of the Havusupai Indian Reservation inside the Grand Canyon and from scouring the beaches of Ocracoke looking for sea turtles and other marine creatures in need of rehabilitation.  

The last time I visited Aunt Pat on Ocracoke was during Spring Break in high school; I was much over-due for a visit.  So during our vacation to Nags Head, we boarded the ferry for a quick day trip to the Island.  We met her newest rescue – a sweet dog who was terrified of my nieces and nephews.  After lunch, we celebrated her birthday with cake from the mainland. We took a walk around the quaint town and got to meet a few of her friends.  We ended the all too quick day with a walk on the secluded and pristine beach for which Ocracoke is famous.

 

 

Although our visit was short, we felt so blessed to experience a small taste of life on the island which Aunt Pat calls home. I felt especially thankful that we got to spend the day with her on her birthday. Hopefully we will get to return to Ocracoke to see her again soon!

 

 

The kids enjoyed Ocracoke too!

 

#7 Go Surfing!

I have always loved water sports. I was a swimmer in high school, a rower in college, and a scuba diver since the age of 12.  Surfing has always had a special allure, but I had yet to try it.  Thankfully, my friend Noah happens to be an excellent surfing instructor with a 100% success rate…no pressure at all for his newest student!  The stars aligned so that he was vacationing in Nags Head at the same time as my family.

The first few days of our time at Nags Head there was almost no wind and the water was completely flat; something I have never experienced it in our many years of vacationing there.  The smooth water was great for my nieces and nephews who were just becoming acquainted with the ocean, but not ideal for surfing lessons.  It looked like our plans would be foiled. Finally, on the last day Noah and I would be in Nags Head simultaneously, the winds picked up and we had waves.  The water was choppy, but we had waves so I wasn’t complaining!

After a 5 minute sand-side lesson…

…Noah took me straight to the water.  Thankfully his wife Jamie was an excellent photographer.

After a few wipe outs and missed opportunities...

I worked up to a kneeling position.

After lots of patience waiting for good waves and a few more tries, I worked up to a standing position.

 

 

Finally, after playing it safe for far too long, I bit the bullet and forced myself up on the board before I became fully comfortable in the wave, and released my arms to enjoy the ride.  After several failed runs, I got one great, long ride.  It was sweet success. We dubbed it my Blue Crush moment.  Jamie was able to capture the last 4 seconds of it:

 (Sorry...not technologically advanced enough to figure out how to rotate this one.)

After 2 hours of surfing and fighting the waves, I was exhausted, but loving the new sport and super happy to maintain Noah’s perfect teaching record.  

Thanks Noah and Jamie!

#6 A Yoga Way of Life

I spent a weekend on a yoga retreat.  I originally wrote a very long post about this, but as I have grown both in my Christian faith and experiences of the world...I have very different feelings about yoga now than I did in 2014. As a result, I have taken down this post.  I don't advocate the practice of yoga.

#5 Adventures on the James River

I have lived in the wonderful River City for most of my life, but, sadly, I haven’t ventured out on the river too much.  Certainly, when I was in high school my friends and I spent our fair share of time sun-bathing around Pony Pasture. I have also rowed a few Saturday sessions with the Virginia Boat Club, but that’s it. And I have lived here the greater part of 22 years. Ouch.

Fun Facts about the James: The James River was originally called the Powhatan River by the Native Americans (my people) until it was renamed by the colonists after King James I.  The James is 348 miles long and is the twelfth longest river in the US that resides entirely in one state.  It is currently the only river in the US where class III and class IV rapids hang out with skyscrapers. (Thank you Wikipedia!)

My adventures on the James River started with Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUPing). I have SUPed once before on a flat reservoir in Charlotte.  Our SUPing experience was fairly short given it was one of many activities during a day-long adventure date. The calm water was easy to navigate. I found SUPing to be an excellent core work out and exercise in balance, but not too strenuous.  I managed to stay standing atop my board the whole time, while my date did not.  Hence, this experience left me just a little over-confident when it came to SUPing the James. (Side note: Guys, adventure dates are awesome! A much welcomed detour from the typical dinner date).  

The James River is not known for being flat. It is rocky. It is rough. It is unpredictable.  When we first got on our boards, our guides informed us that we would most likely not be standing up for the entire journey; the turbulent waters force most people to traverse down the rapids on their knees for stability.  I attempted the first couple of rapids standing up, but soon learned that I was better off kneeling if I wanted to stay on my board. 

How I would like you to think I went down the entire river:

 

 How I actually went down most of the river:

 

 

 

Our guides were very meticulous about explaining the course that they wanted us to take for each rapid; “Go left to avoid this rock, right to stay out of that troubled area, and always aim for the V’s.” For each rapid, our group would assemble into a single-file line and attempt to proceed as instructed. I would navigate myself to the desired location at the head of the rapid and then pretty much without fail the river would take me down the path which the guides had asked us to avoid. Many times, in the middle of the rapid, my board would spin around so that I went the rest of the way backwards and unable to see where I was going. Afterwards I would look over at my guides apologetically, “I didn’t mean to go the way you told us not to. The river took me there.” After a few episodes of this, my guide explained,“It is okay. The river is going to take you where it wants to. You made it through safely. That’s all that matters.”

Once I realized I had very little control over where the river was going to take me, and that even when I took the wrong path as long as I stayed on my board I was going to be safe, the journey became a lot more enjoyable.

I adopted this laissez-faire approach to fording the river a few weeks later when I went tubing down the James over July 4^th. I went with a large group of people, many of whom I did not know.  As we launched from Pony Pasture, I almost immediately drifted away from the people I came with and found myself floating with a group of lovely ladies whom I had met five minutes before.  Instead of attempting to control the situation and try to float back with the friends I already knew, I decided to roll with where the river would take me.  It was a great way to make new friends and enjoy the river’s spontaneity. 

Sadly, I failed to take pictures of tubing...but I was the only one on the river with a pink camo inflatable tube.

*~*Imagine it*~*

Here are some pix of my newly budding wildflowers instead:

 

 

The summer is still young, so I hope to enjoy the James many more times before I hit 30.  If you are living in Richmond or planning a trip, I encourage you to enjoy the beauty and the adventure of the James which are at your beck and call.

#4: Have a Difficult Conversation

In the words of one my life-long best friends: “For me, having difficult conversations has been about learning to give feedback to people both above and below me, making sure that I don't hurt their feelings but that I also really help them grow. I know you have difficult conversations all the time with patients, but make sure you experience it as a peer or as a subordinate. Giving honest feedback has been a real growing point for me - not only facing the fear of doing it, but figuring out how to get the message across so that someone actually alters their behavior based on what you said.”

This task is insanely personal, so I am not going to divulge the particulars of the when, why and how, but I will say with confidence…mission completed more than once (and we are only two months in here). I will, however, share with you the principles I try to use when having difficult conversations. Thankfully, God has blessed recent circumstances with some willing hearts open to the idea of change.

Rules For Fight Club…Impassioned Dialogue:

1. Be lovingly authentic. I’m a big fan of telling it like it is in most settings with direct candor. However, in delicate matters I think it is best to remember as important as the truth is, the truth often hurts. We still need to bring truth to light, but remember to do so in a gentle, loving way. Note: gentle and loving is not passive or hidden. You have to be direct in the truth, but phrase things in a gentle, loving, soft way.

2. Avoid ‘you’ statements. “You forgot to take out the trash” is laden with blame; it will naturally put the receiver on defensive alert. Opt for ‘I’ statements. “I would really appreciate it if you could take out the trash when it is full.”  Likewise, “You never listen to me” sounds very different from “I feel like I am not being heard; I feel frustrated and misunderstood.”

3. Avoid the words ‘always’ and ‘never.’ Again, use of these words is going to put the receiver on the defensive. And really, does the person literally ALWAYS do X and NEVER do Y?  When phrasing a case this way, you are setting yourself up for your point to easily be refuted with one simple example to the contrary. If you want your position to really be heard, try to avoid these words.

4. Take responsibility for your actions; say sorry when you are wrong (and mean it).As much as we like to demonize the other person, the painful truth is we most often have some hand in our present circumstances.  I recently encountered a woman who found out her husband was unfaithful.  She was hurt, she was sad, she was angry, but she acknowledged it wasn’t completely his fault.  She realized she had made decisions that had alienated him from her. She didn’t force him to cheat on her; he made that decision on his own…but she recognizes that she helped build the circumstances that brought him to that place. Acknowledge your hand in the present problem, so you can figure out the role that you need to play to be part of the solution.

5. Stop keeping score. I am almost haunted by the passage in 1 Corinthians 13 which states, “Love is patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, and it keeps no record of wrongs.” When my sisters and I were little (and still today), we were GREAT at keeping score and I was the chief scorekeeper. Our memories were unfortunately long. When we fought, we dragged every ghost of fights past into the heart of the current fight. As a result, it got ugly, quickly. When arguing from the past, we can lose sight of what is really at the heart of the current matter making it hard to move past the argument. To be productive, try to keep today’s fight about today.

6. Try not to argue like a lawyer. I once heard a pastor describing marital arguments as this (paraphrased poorly): “When you argue in a marriage, you want to fight the opposite way of a lawyer. A lawyer is looking for the weakness of the other side’s argument, so she can attack it. In a marriage, you want to see the strengths of the other person’s argument. You are trying to understand where the other one is coming from, so you can work together to find a resolution and compromise that will benefit you as a couple.” I think this sound advice is applicable outside of the marriage paradigm as well.

7. Give each other grace. No one is perfect, but if you want to have any hope of reconciliation and peace in a relationship (any relationship…friendship, family, marriage), then you have to offer grace and reconciliation to each other. I always thought grace and forgiveness were gifts to be received; I have recently have been made increasingly aware that God also gave us the gift of giving these gifts. There is freedom in forgiving someone who has wronged you; freedom from the hurt, hate, anger that is welling up inside of you. There is freedom in forgiving someone who may never even know that they hurt you or who doesn’t even want your forgiveness. We as Christians are meant to forgive those who have wronged us not only as a gift to them, but also as God’s gift to us. There is freedom in giving forgiveness as much as in receiving it.

8. Treat each day as a new day. Each day is a fresh start; begin each day with forgiveness for yesterday so you can proceed forward.

Finally, I am issuing a special challenge to my married friends: Give three new compliments to each other every day. My experience is that newly-weds find this challenge easier than marriage veterans. Regardless, sometimes when the fights accumulate, it is hard to remember why you fell in love with someone in the first place. By pledging to give each other three compliments each day, it will force you to really think about what you love about your spouse. Obviously, if you are blessed with a long marriage it may eventually become harder to come up with ‘new’ things; my rule is that you can repeat an item if you specify as to how the quality was exemplified that day. For example: “My wife is kind (as said before). She exhibited kindness today when she spontaneously made my lunch for me when I was running late this morning.”

I am by no means an expert in conflict resolution; I can be quick to abandon the above principles in the heat of the moment. With practice, God’s grace, and guidance, hopefully difficult conversations will become a little less difficult and a lot more fruitful.

#3: a) Visit Washington Family b) Complete a Covert Mission

As I mentioned, I am including at least one submission from everyone who participated in the challenge.  In order to do that, I had to combine several people’s submissions in some creative ways.  I got especially creative with Challenge #3– but I think the CalArtians would approve of the creativity.

Most of my dad's family lives in Washington state where he grew up.  Regrettably, because of the distance and the cost of travel, we didn’t get to see each other very much as I was growing up.  Back then, even long distance phone calls were expensive because they had to be paid by the minute. If you went one second over, you had to pay for the whole minute. I have vivid memories of my parents lining my sisters and I up in the kitchen once a month, so we could talk to our grandparents on the phone. We often kept the oven timer running, so we could make sure time didn’t get away from us.

Last year I returned to Washington for my grandfather’s funeral. It was the first time I had been there since a family vacation when I was 11 years old.  Even though we were there for a funeral, I really enjoyed the time with my relatives, especially my sister from my dad's first marriage.  After hearing about me talk about my time with my relatives so much, one of my close friends challenged me to a return visit.

Unfortunately, I am short on vacation time this year because I started a new job.  As much as I would love to go out to Washington again, it just wasn’t in the cards for this year.  My oldest nephew’s graduation from college, on the other hand, was definitely in the cards. I checked with The Council…meeting with Washington relatives on non-Washington soil satisfies the intent of the challenge, thus Council approved! 

My nephew is super intelligent and musically talented; we were so excited when he got accepted into California Institute of the Arts.  Four years later and I can't believe how fast time has gone and that he is ready to be on his own in the real world.  I was not going to miss the honor and privilege of watching my oldest nephew graduate from college.

I will be a proud aunt of my nieces and nephews no matter what, but the fact that our eldest of the next generation graduated from CalArts was just down right cool.

The graduation was on the campus of CalArts, which conveniently enough would provide me the oppurtunity to finish the second part of this challenge: a covert mission. CalArts is home to the famous Room A113.  You may have heard about Room A113 because of its recent buzz on the internet, but even if you haven’t heard of it, you have seen the fruits of its labor.  Room A113 is the graphic design and character animation classroom at CalArts.  Pixar recruits heavily from CalArts. As a result, many of its animators have covertly hidden A113 in each of the Pixar movies as a nod to where they all got their start.

While we were sitting outside, waiting for the graduation to start, my second-oldest nephew and I snuck in the main building to find Room A113.  The room was slyly tucked away in a non-descript hallway.

 

People were inside the room, so we couldn’t go in…but I stuck my phone through the door to catch this interior shot...super-stealthy-Ninja-style!

MISSION 3B: COMPLETE.

After our photo excursion, we headed back to the lawn for graduation. CalArts does graduation like no other academic institution. The graduates didn’t wear robes; they got to wear whatever they wanted (and my sister warned that I shouldn’t be surprised if some chose to wear their birthday suits).  Instead of processing to “Pomp and Circumstance,” they walked in to the styles of African tribal music with student tribal dancers ushering them to their seats.  As each graduate’s name was called, a 30-second musical spot of their own choosing was played as they walked across the stage; we heard Disney, rap, classical, and various theme songs throughout the night.

Our Keynote speaker was CalArts Alumn John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.  He said many wise and entertaining things, but the two that stuck with me the most: 1. You need others. Lean on others. Celebrate others. 2. In the art world, you are not competing with each other. Great art makes you want more.  Don’t make it a competition, when everyone will benefit from collaboration.  Although his remarks were about art, I think they are applicable to many more life domains, including medicine.

As fun as the graduation was, my favorite part of the trip by far was hanging out with my family. Because my sister and I don’t get to see each other very often, it was amusing to recognize all of our similarities, especially with regard to our quirky habits.  I am hoping to see my sister and nephews again soon. 

 

#2 Grow Something

I will admit, when I first read this suggestion, it didn’t particularly excite me.  It seemed too simple, too ordinary.  Not quite 30 worthy. Then two other people suggested it, so I felt compelled to re-consider.  To be fair, one of my friends suggested I could grow anything….he suggested a child.  Given that I live in an apartment without access to planting land and my balcony receives zero sunlight, for a second I considered it.    Then I spent the day with my five littlest nieces and nephews…probably best to keep it to plants.

One of my beloved friends specifically requested that I grow something from seeds, so off to Home Depot I went.  Inspired by the fact that several people submitted cooking challenges, I decided to attempt an herb garden.  This decision was not at all influenced by the fact that Home Depot sells an affordable herb garden starter kit with all supplies included. ;)  I remained skeptical that my shadowy balcony would fruitfully produce herbs, so I also got some wildflower seeds as a back-up plan. I figured wildflowers are fairly hardy considering they naturally grow in the wild, so I was practically guaranteed success.

Although I initially had little emotional interest in this challenge, I was unexpectedly hooked from day one.  Racing to my balcony to inspect my garden became my new post-work routine.  After a few days passed without seeing any sign of progress, I quickly doubted my gardening skills. I lamented the absence of growth to a friend; he was quick to tell me to give it time and to continue to water and nurture the vacant pots of soil.  One week from the day I first planted, I had my first cilantro sprout.

 

Most of my sprouts came up from the ground folded over like this. Who knew? By their second day above dirt they generally advanced to upright sprouts. Once the first few sprouts sprouted, their innumerable friends joined. 

 

 

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Gardening has taught me the value of patience. I’m still contentedly and expectantly waiting for my wildflowers to grow buds and blossoms, though I am enjoying the variety of the greenery pictured above in the meantime. It’s also taught me the importance of loving/nurturing to individual needs.  At first, I watered all of my plants equally not knowing any better.  Most of my plants did well enough, by the chives refused to grow.  I almost gave up on them, when a solitary chive sprout finally surfaced above the crust.  Its droopy appearance bore the truth that I was overwatering the little guy.  On the other hand, chives’ neighbor cilantro needs way more water than the rest.  Apparently, one size watering can does not fit all, even amongst the herb variety.

^"But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."  --Matthew 13:23

#1: Puddle Jumping

I was amazed at how many people submitted suggestions involving rain.  Standing in the rain, lying in the rain, running in the rain, standing barefoot in the grass in the rain, jumping puddles with nieces and nephews in the rain, etc.…rain was by far the most common theme among the submissions.  As such, it was the easiest most logical place to start.  Fortunately, it rained for several days on end the week after my birthday. 

To include my 6-year-old niece and 2-year-old nephew I needed daylight hours.  I work 1.5 hours away from them, which makes predicting the weather in their yard a bit tricky.  Naturally, when I left work in a rainstorm, by the time I reached their house the storm cell had passed.  I entered their house with the thought of waiting it out to rain again or simply re-scheduling, but my 6-year-old niece had other plans.

As soon as I entered the house, she ran up to me “Aunt Katie, are we really going to splash in the puddles?”  Re-scheduling was off the table.  My astute sister suited up her small children with galoshes and rain-appropriate gear. I went barefoot as requested and sans rain gear to feel the full effect. We splashed. We danced. We sang. We took turns kissing in the “rain.” We marveled at worms splayed across the sidewalk. We played follow-the-leader through the yard, which particularly tickled my nephew. 

By the end of our fun, my poor nephew being the closest to the ground was by far the wettest, and thus the coldest…but he was a good sport and didn’t complain.  I had high hopes of washing my niece’s hair in the rain, but the rain didn’t cooperate...so we will rain check that one. 

Again, I am amazed how many people made submissions about rain. It’s something that most of us encounter quite often in our geographic setting, yet we fail to take time to treasure the wonder, power, and majesty of something as simple and essential as rain.  I challenge you to stop and enjoy the rain in all of its glory the next time you find yourself in a downpour!