Thursday, June 16, 2011

culture shock

lesson learned- the attention span of our generation is that of a facebook page loading.

case and point: molly's graduation-the row in front of us contained 5 friends sitting next to each other all playing a game that resembled "bejeweled" (but i'm sure it has a new and cooler name, considering that is what i remember my mom being moderately addicted to for a brief phase more than 5 years ago and i seem to be "out of the loop" these days). but wait, one of the committed players can't be bothered by the dean's boring speech, nor the game in front of her and decides to take a snooze. her neighbor witnesses the z's being exhibited and captures the moment and immediately uploads the hard evidence onto facebook. all the competitors/friends down the line are notified of their snoozing friend by the ever distracting red 1 and confirm it by actually leaning down the line-breaking eye contact with their phone-and immediately state their feelings by commenting on the photo. when sleepy eyes wakes up, she realizes she has been exposed, not just to the row and those within staring distance, but to the whole social network of facebook.

i thought to myself...wow, we are creating a socially awkward generation that will never again be able to interact face to face-unless you count taking a picture and commenting on it as face to face interaction. this is my generation...just before i can complete this thought...the man in front of droopy eyes is updating his status, he had to be atleast 60.

what is happening to the world (she says as she posts this on the internet for any and all to read)?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

june 14th

just a reminder...

Tuesday, 7pm, Dinneen House...
dessert and movie. "a walk to beautiful" (a change because of availability)
a time to hang out and be together.

welcome all.

Monday, June 06, 2011

past, present and future.

when i came to the birth attendant school three years ago my sister was freshly married, i was 19 and my brother had just finished his freshman year of high school. claire and elsie, my nieces were 2.5 and barely could talk.

today i live in a house with 7 people from 5 countries, my eyes have welcomed a border of wrinkles and i have shed that awkward puberty weight that i first came to australia with. several dear friends are great with child, my nieces can figure out quicker airplane routes than the airlines i take, most of my friends from church/school have started or are anticipating starting their lives with significant others. i am a different person now and so is everyone else.

i started thinking about all these changes when i made this movie for my brother last night. it was supposed to be something to encourage and reflect on his life because he is graduating this year. this got me on this path of trying to conjure all that has transpired in the last three years and in pat's whole life. it made my head hurt. you know, my brother is the exact same age as Andy in Toy Story 3...october of last year i was flying and i started sobbing whilst watching Andy pack up his room-all the sudden it clicked, that could be Pat!

here is what i think, this is a reality of life. things CHANGE. hair colours change, speaking of which, i am the proud owner of yellow hair currently. people get married. babies are born. pat is going to have girlfriends. i started liking onions and chili.
so, i need to learn to embrace it and not hate it.
and isn't this the beauty of it all. people move on and do bigger and better things.

on friday i said good bye to my dear friend and mentor, Hollie. She trained me to be a midwife. Her family is moving to the east coast to start a new chapter.
over the course of Fri-Mon I said goodbye to 14 students of the BAS 2010.
tomorrow i will take a dear family to the airport as they continue on with vision G*od has given them for Burma.

we can't stay in the same spot, we have to keep moving forward--
sometimes that is a physical move or just a mental shift.

if this is the life my G*od has called me into, he is going to equip me to graciously grasp the changes.
so i embark on embracing.

Sunday, June 05, 2011

it's the end of the year as i know it.

i am coming to the end of the farewells here. the students walked across the floor, received their certificates, i got my license, drove several to the airport and now i am winding down starting to process...what in the world just happened.

hot water comes out of the taps now, the washing machine is my new best friend and i can eat most anything i crave whenever i want. part of me despises this because the reality of western living shocks my system and tells me its time to transition.

one of the students thanked me this week for being gracious with her when she did things the wrong way in the hospital or when i spoke into her life on a discipleship level. i felt seen when she said that to me.

yesterday, during a public event, i walked over to get a cup of tea and met one of my students who was also getting a cuppa. she said to me "are you going to the hospital?" and then we laughed hysterically as we both knew she meant to say "airport" instead of "hospital". after we wound down i smiled and thought about how i won't be going to the hospital for a while and felt a little melancholy. i think though as i write this, i need time to process. i need time to just be.