It's How You Get There

Sunrise starting to peak... Sitting with the window open, washer tumbling listening as the eerie strains of an accordion's melody accompanies the breeze dancing around the clothes hanging out to dry. The list of groceries sits filled out, the online order made, and plans for homework and other activities for the week have been laid out. With the coming spring comes the renewed motivation and hope that often slowly makes it's way back in as seasonal affective disorder drips away into the darkness to wait until the days shorten again. On top of that, though Korea is experiencing it's highest cases of COVID yet, Koreans are raising up with the spring, enjoying a relaxation in COVID policies and procedures that hasn't been seen since early 2020. And while there has been no declaration of a total return to normalcy, most Koreans look forward to upcoming months when the new South Korean president begins his term and supposedly ushers in the end of remaining COVID policies.  C...

 A friend of mine told me yesterday that a friend of hers was looking for Apocalypse Bingo 2022 examples. Being someone who regularly thinks about things, and likes to use humor to hide from the realities of life, I decided I'd try my hand at it. And since why not, I thought I'd share it here. Warning, this might slightly resemble your Facebook feed. Excited for 2022? I already have my vampire advocacy posters ready.  But debates about vampire dietary struggles aside, there's a lot of uncertainty going into this new year. It's something that friends and I regularly talk about, and I see it on the faces of parents and fellow teachers. No one is sure what's coming, and they're not quite sure what to do about it.  On one hand there's the cold, silky call of despair. Beckoning to the cynically apathetic embrace of nihilism, that whispers that the world is condemned anyway and releases its occupants from the burden of having to find a solution. Then it drowns you...

“The soul is healed by being with children.” ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky It's been 7 months since the last post, so a personal apology to everyone that I kept saying "Yeah, I'll post next week." At long last, it is next week. Hehehe.  I've been thinking a lot about kids lately. It makes sense probably, because that's who I spend easily 80% of my conscious life with. If you count the times they pop up in my dreams you can move that up 5%.  When I first came to Korea the part I was actually most worried about was the kids. I had been in college for 5 years, and then on a mission before that. My youngest siblings weren't super super young anymore, and living out of state I didn't interact with them very much. There had been a time I was super comfortable around kids. I would know all the kids at my church, a lot of the kids at the local library clubs, and I was not at all afraid of babies or little little ones.  But at 27 years old, I didn't feel anywhere ne...

“Food can be very transformational, and it can be more than just about a dish. That’s what happened to me when I first went to France. I fell in love. And if you fall in love, well, then everything is easy.” – Alice Waters I did some scary things this week.  Admitted to myself that I've lost weight and need to buy new summer clothes (which you'd think would make clothes shopping mentally easier but doesn't really).  Went with Hayley and got my hair chopped off at a Korean Hair Salon (complete with an orange juice box, and hair machine thingies that probably came off an alien space ship). Actually looked at how much money I spend on food in a month (your girl eats out too much).  AND decided that it would be better to start talking to other human beings in Korean more often than I have been (a horribly necessary decision).  And amidst all that, Wednesday was Buddha's Birthday, and it being a holiday I went and ate a giant pot of seafood with the usual squad. Food has ...

I walked through the night, and found him there.  It wasn't God, He wasn't missing. This is the one I always wonder about. Wondering if he'll be part of this life or not.  Wondering if he's real.  Wondering if I'm crazy for wondering anymore... And on this particular night as I wondered, I looked up and whispered.  Whispered a wish to the stars I couldn't see, about the man I couldn't find. Then the night went still, and for a moment I felt a wondering back. The beat of a heart. It echoed mine. Curiosity.  Confusion, excitement,  Hope. Then the red and blue lights of a patrol car swept by, slicing the air. And in their passing left just God and I,  walking the empty street. Only this time, I wasn't left wondering. -Shayla

"...I know in whom I have trusted." (2 Nephi 4:19) My entire life I've been almost entirely surrounded by others. With 7 kids (who act more like a pack of puppies than not on any given day) none of us were ever truly alone. At 19 I left on a mission for my church where I was always with another missionary...the only time I slept in a room by myself was my last night before I went home. Then I was back home, and my 19-month-old baby sister was always among the first of my siblings to pop into the guestroom as soon as the sun would start to shine.  In college I had roommates, and whenever I visited home though I often had a room to myself, there was almost always someone there with me. Someone coming to just sit on the bed. Someone coming to talk about their day. Someone, there was always someone.  It wasn't until shortly after graduating that I got my own apartment and truly lived on my own. I remember that first night in the apartment. My family had left, and I wa...