Given the chance, there's really not too much I'd change about the time I spent in England earlier this year.
It was, snow and ice included, as near to perfect as 6 months could be.
From the places I traveled, to the friends I made, to the various work I did, to the boy I was crazy enough to start dating, I wouldn't trade the stacks of pictures, pages of journal writing, and innumerable memories now holding down the bookshelves of my heart for the world.
I ate a lot of English food and came home a little heavier (fixed that fast as I could) and bought a lot of train tickets and came home much poorer (that one's taking a bit longer to fix but I'm working on it), but I certainly wouldn't call those things regrets. My one regret is that I wish I'd walked the Chester walls more often.
They were beautiful, they made me feel alive, and I didn't walk nearly as many miles as I could have in that circle above Northgate Street, beside the Cathedral, along the river, against the racecourse, around the city.
Yet as I sit here in Conway, Arkansas, wishing I could walk those walls, I pray that I am not foolish enough to miss the people, trees, pathways, conversations, songs, and sunsets that surround me every moment here, just beckoning me to embrace the life and vitality that they offer with open arms, only so long as I am open to receive.
I'm going to miss this boiling 95 degree September when Arkansas is no longer my home.
I'm going to miss the way the sunlight blazes through the filter of thick trees across the pecan grove.
I'm going to miss girlfriends invading my apartment on a nightly basis, lunches in the cafeteria, 3-hour Bible study sessions, falling asleep while studying in the Murphy House, stealing Heather's bike for a quick trip to the library, weekly roommate trips to Kroger, staying up late to write papers, picnics, nighttime walks, and possibly even that stupid train that goes speeding down the tracks a mere 100 yards from my bed three times a night (possibly, just).
So, with my last eight months at Hendrix, I want to "walk the walls" more often. And, by that I mean I'm going to study on a blanket in the sunshine more. Host more pot-luck dinners. Wake up early for coffee and Bible reading more often. I don't want to graduate, move on, and look back and think, "I wish I'd done this, or that, more often." Or even at all.
"Waking up this morning, I smile. 24 brand new hours before me. I vow to live fully in each moment, and look at all beings with eyes of compassion."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
"I crossed the street to walk in the sunshine."
-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love
♥
1 comment:
I love this. For so many many reasons.
And maybe it's a little cheese.
But everything you write here is you, from your heart, and really, that's all you can really give. I love this because it's what you need to do, what I need to do, what we all need to do. Let's stargaze this weekend and soak up every moment we can :)
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