Home Keeping
Today I fly back to Guatemala. In fact, I'm typing this in the Dallas airport on my layover with the smell of Auntie Anne's pretzels wafting around the corner to my makeshift workspace.
I'm happy to be going back to the country that I'm currently calling home. Yet I'm sad to be leaving the other homes that have planted themselves on my heart. I'm hopeful for the next six months, for my new internship and opportunities to serve. I'm even hopeful for my Spanish. Yet I'm scared of the unknown, of missing friends and family. Of missing home.I recently finished reading Kathleen Norris', The Cloister Walk. It was fabulous. I highly recommend it to anyone with a faint interest in poetry, communal living, monastic life, or God. Kathleen spent a great deal of time in a Benedictine monastery, learning the liturgy, breathing in the Psalms and solitude, strengthening her own faith through routine and commitment to those around her.After leaving the monastery, she aches for the monastic home she left. She writes,"At times I'm homesick for a place that isn't mine, homesick for 200 monks and their liturgy. Most people have the sense not to get themselves into such a predicament."Most people have the sense not to up and move to a foreign country. Not to pledge their hearts to too many people in too many disparate places.And yet I've chosen to make a new home, or try to at least. To become an oblate of the Guatemalan community, dedicated to their rule of life for a time.
Kathleen asks herself, in the absence of her new home, "What do I do now for ceremony and community?"What do I do now for my community?She answers, "My instinct is to keep as much of the monastery in me as possible."As I leave, as I fly over mountains and snow and ocean, my instinct is to keep as much of "home" in me as possible. As much of the joy of my dear, dear girl friends in San Diego. As much of the love and security of my family, zany as they are. As much of the hope and community and joy of my church community in me as possible.Today I go back to my new home happy and sad. Hopeful and scared. And fully prepared to embrace this new challenge of home keeping.
Come and See
A New Year's Poem
A new year is upon us, a soft blanket of fresh snow.The last year passed so quickly,filled with moments sweet and moments low.A book club with dear sistersseeking to know You and Your truth. 
A writing class, a journey,our stories Your living proof.Weddings of forever friendswith forever vows of love.A bucket list, a choice to leaveStacking joys sent from above.A new culture, a new starta beginning and an end.Missing friends and meeting new oneswatching worlds start to blend.I know not what the next year holdswhat path will beckon me.I only know your words exhort, Come, follow me and see.
New Year, New Look
“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding II
Happy 2013!
It's a new year and my blog has a new look and a new voice. I am excited to debut my crisper, cleaner Wordpress blog. And am even more thrilled to announce that I will be getting back into the blogging routine.One of my new year's resolutions is to blog more consistently. Some bloggers I know are resolving to post less. To step back and step out into the real world. To connect with the real people right in front of them. To stay grounded.But the last couple of weeks of bloggerly absence has only reinforced my hunch that blogging, writing and processing and sharing my thoughts and fears and prayers with you, actually helps keep me grounded.Blogging helps me make sense of my world, forces me to slow down and reflect, teaches me to look for God and weave worship into my daily routine. Through blogging, I learn to see my best self, even when I'm scared and vulnerable. I learn that I can only become my best self by caring enough and giving enough to be scared and vulnerable.So here's to another year of sharing God's promises, seeking joy and kindness and compassion, and processing life and God and love together, though we may feel scared and vulnerable. ***
Follow My New BlogSince I switched blog hosts, you'll have to re-subscribe to stay updated. OR, you can decide to follow for the first time! It's super easy, just scroll down to the bottom of the page to follow by email, twitter, Facebook, RSS feed and all that good stuff.For simplicity's sake, the web address will stay the same: memoirsofalgeisha.com. Happy reading!*This blog brought to you by my amazing brother (pictured with me) who helped with the blog design and my tech savvy dad who restored my computer back to tiptop blogging condition. Thanks, guys!